


Nectar of Life

by Lothlorienx



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Crime Fighting, Eventual Smut, Multi, Multiple Relationships, Polyamory, Romance, Sea Arrow, SeaArrow, Symbiosi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-04-20 16:05:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4793771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothlorienx/pseuds/Lothlorienx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[SeaArrow/Symbiosi] The Team has their work cut out for them yet again, this time facing the Injustice League and their latest plan for chaos. But between all their battles and strife, attraction begins to bloom between three members of the Team…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kaldur clung to Artemis for dear life, wrapping his arms around her body to keep him from falling the rest of the way, straight down into the craggy rocks of the river below them. Artemis held tight to the rope in her hand, grappled above outcroppings of the cliff.

A curse whispered past her lips as she chided herself for how stupid she must have been to let this happen.

Her eyes looked up at the arrow that held the weight to the two of them, sunk into the stone and foliage, and then looked back down to the river. Gritting her teeth, she cursed again.

"Artemis!" Kaldur called for her, drawing her attention back down. "I think we could make this jump."

"Are you crazy?" she asked him, unable to mask the shock in her voice.

"No. I am not crazy. I've been doing the calculations, and I believe that if we dive down with our feet first, we will escape with only a few injuries. Besides," he timidly pointed down below him, "the rocks shouldn't hurt us. They are far enough away."

Still Artemis was unconvinced.

Kaldur could see that she looked afraid, and skeptical as well, but he had faith in his calculations. He had seen those rocks when he and his team had first flown in on the Bioship, and it was then that he gouged their size. Drawing from his memory, he compared the size of them close up to the size of them now.

They would survive. Hopefully without too many injuries.

"Artemis!" he said again, just as twigs and branches from above the cliff started cracking. Poison Ivy, he guessed, as the vegetation started to writhe above. They both gasped as the arrow settled farther down into the rock, the rope that held them giving a dangerous lurch.

"Artemis! You have to trust me on this," he said looking up at her. He looked her deep in the eyes, challenging her to say no. Taking a deep breath, Artemis let go of the rope just as the plants snapped at them with poisonous thorns and agape mouths.

So it had been Poison Ivy after all.

As they fell, they still clung together, unwilling to separate. They had to push themselves apart, give their bodies enough space. Straightening out, their feet together, the wind rushing past them, they fell into their head-last dive, waiting with held breath for the painful contact.

But still, even with her thoughts of how bad it would sting, Artemis was unprepared for the feeling of absolute agony as her body dove down into the river. She had missed the rocks by a long ways, but the water breaking all around her punished her body in a way that drove all sanity from her. Bright specks of light flashed in front of her, and she couldn't tell which way was up.

She wanted to scream. Her eyes bulged, and her legs wouldn't move no matter how hard she tried to get them to respond. Flailing her arms, she tried to get back up to the surface, where she could breathe again and let out her anguished scream.

Kaldur had to help her to the surface. His legs were as bad as hers, and his back hurt along his spine. But he could breathe underwater, so that allowed him some time to recover from an immobilized state. If he had been alone. Painfully, he gathered up Artemis in his arms once more, and kicked for the surface, not stopping until Artemis had taken in her first breath of air.

No longer did she have a scream of pain, but rather a moan so deep and frightening that it sounded like the call of the dead.

"We must get back to the ship," said Kaldur, thinking quickly. He knew that there was nothing more that they could do now. Not with them floating down the river with broken bodies.

From the awkward angle of Artemis' leg, he was almost positive that she had broken a bone.

Stroking with a single arm, Kaldur brought them to the river bank, crawling on the sand and soil before collapsing down with a heavy sigh. His arm was still draped over Artemis, and he kept it there, feeling protective of her. It may not have been his fault that they had gone over the cliff, but he had to take responsibility for the consequences thereof.

"Artemis?" he asked, turning his head towards her. "How are you feeling?"

She moaned again, long and loud, vocalizing every little bit of pain that shot through her body. Tears had formed in her eyes, glazed over with pain, and she looked far too weak. When she could finally talk, she said, "Not good."

A second passed before she spoke again.

"How far from the Bioship?"

"Not far," Kaldur replied, not even having to think. "But still, I think it may be too far for us to get there with our injuries."

Artemis only groaned.

"We will have to try, though."

Wincing, Artemis pushed herself up with her hands, ignoring the shout of protest that ran through her nerves. Kaldur balanced unsteadily on his feet, not completely able to cope with the pain in his legs. Even still, he made Artemis loop her arm around his shoulder, supporting more of her weight than she did.

"You cannot walk on that leg," he told her, as the two of them wobbled together.

Each step was slow, far too slow, and if they were being chased they both knew that they would have been easily caught. But thankfully, Poison Ivy and the rest of the villains were too busy with the rest of the team, and they had their work cut out for them, considering the progress the team had made.

They were far stronger, far braver, and definitely more of a challenge than they had been the year before.

Artemis had known it had been successful when Ivy started taking off running.

But then she had to pursue her. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she chided herself again.

"We'll never make it at this pace!" she cried out, unable to take the torrents of pain coupled with her pangs of guilt. "We might as well just lay down and wait for—"

As though she had been personally challenging it, the Bioship came into view, the camouflage fading off of it and returning to its bright colors. It landed almost on top of them, opening a hatch for them to climb up into. Artemis went in with Kaldur, still leaning on him heavily.

"Never have I been so happy to see the Bioship before," Kaldur said, collapsing down onto the ground.

Beneath Artemis and beneath Kaldur, two chairs formed, lifting the two of them up into something more comfortable. Groans filled the ship as their bodies were forced to move once more, but then a relief came to their nerves, and their grimaces faded.

"Kaldur?"

The silence had stretched on far too long, and he had not been counting. He didn't know how much time had passed, and the sudden voice of Artemis calling him back into reality startled him back into reality. Looking at her closely, he examined her wounds from afar, noting the bruises and fresh cuts.

"You made a good call," she told him.

Kaldur smiled, despite everything, and made to reply just as the Bioship gave a sickening lurch and sprung forth into the air once more, flying towards a new destination. Sailing high up in the air, the latch opened again and in flew Miss Martian, badly beaten up and clutching her chest, gasping for air. Through the haze of her pain, she was able to take in the sight of her two broken teammates.

"We've got to get out of here!" was the only thing she could say.

Without further word, she steered the Bioship towards each of their teammates, collecting them so quickly that it was almost comical.

With all of them gathered into the ship, Miss Martian turned back towards home; the Cave that they all shared deep within the mountains of Happy Harbor; speeding away from a fight they weren't entirely sure whether they had won or lost.

____________________________________________________________________________________

It was far too hot and far too humid a summer for New England, and both the Team and the League knew that this wasn't natural. It was caused by something more, most likely another plot in the Injustice League just to stir up trouble.

But still, they had to fight it.

Not the heat, but whatever evil scheme they had cooked up and set into motion. Kaldur still had thoughts about it being a small piece of the puzzle in a giant picture that they simply could not see yet. After having discussed all the matters with the older members, and having shared a number of interesting theories, he couldn't do anything more than just lean back on his cot in the infirmary and give himself over to the pain in his legs.

It had been too far a fall, and he knew that Artemis had taken most of the impact. Her pain was far greater than his, and even as his own body ached, he wondered how she was holding up, and if she needed anything.

The rest of them were taking care of her, and she was healing well enough, though at a slower pace than him. He had been right; she had broken her leg. A small fracture along the bone in her calf, splintering open.

He hoped she wasn't in much pain.  
____________________________________________________________________________________

Artemis lay flat on her back in the women's showers, her body splayed out along the tile floors as hot water rushed over her. It felt unnatural to have a cast on her leg, especially when sweat clung to her skin day and night. She hated her cast. Megan make her a new one every day, since Artemis was driven so mad by the thing that eventually she took knives to it, cutting it off of her and letting her broken leg feel the fresh air once more. Artemis was thankful for it, for even if she couldn't stand to have it on, she knew she needed it.

The summer was far too hot to have a cast.

Looking up and down her legs, she noted everything wrong with them. Bruising, puckered scars, swelling, and what still seemed like an odd angle. She knew that her bones had been reset, and it was just her mind played with her and made her see the sickening angle once more. Still, a shudder ran through her.

"Artemis?"

"Yeah," she answered automatically, before realizing that it was Kaldur's voice.

Shocked, she wrapped her hands around her chest to cover her breasts. Why, she didn't know, but it was just a habit that she had made ever since she joined the team. Gradually, she uncovered them. For some reason, she didn't want to cover her breasts around Kaldur, but rather leave them exposed. It was a strange feeling, since no one else on the team had the same effect on her.

"Are you doing well?"

His voice was coming from around the hall, Artemis noticed now that she was listening closer. Well out of eyesight.

"I've been better," she said.

"Do you need assistance with anything?" he asked.

A blush deepened on Artemis' skin. She was about to say no when her voice caught in her throat, her mind changing. Yes, she did need help. Megan was out of range, along with the others, and everyone else was either at their own homes or out within the nearby city.

"Yes," she called to him, her skin flushing even hotter.

"What may I assist you with?"

"I need someone to support my weight." Artemis had never really been shy, not around anyone. Even people she'd had crushes on earlier in life she hadn't been shy around. But with Kaldur it was different. The strange feeling was butterflies in her stomach, and she quickly decided that she didn't like it.

Kaldur stepped into the showers, and Artemis caught her breath. She leaned up on her own, turning the shower water off and reaching for the towel, wrapping it around her. Not that it mattered, since Kaldur had closed his eyes anyway. Atlanteans had the skill to see using a form of echolocation, so even with his eyes shut to her nakedness, he could feel her presence.

He wrapped an arm around her soaking wet body, and helped her to hobble out of the showers.

"I do not think that it is completely safe for me to escort you home..."

"I wasn't planning on going home tonight, anyway," Artemis said.

"No?" he asked.

Artemis shook her head, then remembered his eyes were closed. Then remembered again his echolocation; he ought to be able to sense her head moving.

"No. Things aren't really going good there, so I've decided to stay in the Cave until everything's been sorted out." She wanted to say more, to tell him about Jade suddenly showing back up in her life again, and her mom's anger and confusion at having her daughter coming around the house again, and her father making phone calls day and night. Seriously, if she had to listen to one more screaming argument, either at her sister or her father, she was going to lose it.

And what did it matter if she didn't come home anyway?

They all knew that these things happened when you were a superhero, always flying off on missions and putting yourself in harm's way to the point where your death was assumed if you didn't respond in the next five minutes.

But Artemis let all these thoughts die away in her mind as she reached the door to one of the bedrooms. It was bland and impersonal, but the sheets were warm and the pillows soft and it would do. Quiet nights and peace of mind was something so blissful she thought she might never go back home.

"I am sorry again for your pain," Kaldur apologized, for what must have been the fourth time that week.

"You can open your eyes," Artemis told him.

Slowly, his eyes slid open, and he took in the sight of her wrapped in a towel and limping on a casted foot. His lips were tugged into a smile as he realized how beautiful she looked, then he quickly diverted his eyes to the nearby dresser that she was searching around in.

"And I told you: stop saying you're sorry."

Kaldur nodded, and exited the room just as Artemis dropped her towel down to the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

If there was one thing Artemis hated more than the heat, it was the mosquitoes. They had been biting her nonstop, no matter how much bug spray she applied, and she kept slapping herself to the point where it bordered on self abuse.

"At least my cast is off," Artemis said to herself, rubbing sterile alcohol on her bitten skin.

"We were correct in our assumptions," Kaldur said, looking at the digital screens floating in the air above him. "The mosquito you killed is not an ordinary one. It had been genetically modified to grow bigger, have a greater immunity to repellents—"

"Oh, perfect," Artemis quipped.

"—and to have traces of coding imbedded in their DNA structure."

"You suspect Cobra Venom?" she asked, taking time away from her arm and stepping up beside him. Kaldur breathed deep, unknowingly breathing in more of her scent. Within the past days, he came to realize that he was attracted to her, and he had begun to spend more time around her. Whenever she was near, his body responded accordingly.

"Indeed," he said, trying to control the bubbling feeling that was rising up within him. "The modifications in these mosquitoes match Cobra Venom perfectly, even if we don't have any blood samples or hair fibers to test."

"So…now what are we going to do about it?" Artemis asked. They both looked around to the small gather of friends that stood with them. Megan, Connor, Zatanna, and Red Tornado stood in a small cluster around the screens, showing the mosquitoes biologics in crisp detail.

"Well, we can continue to kill mosquitoes all summer, but that won't be very effective," Zatanna said.

"No it wouldn't," Kaldur agreed. "I believe that our best course of action would be to go to the source of these mutations. The Injustice League is no doubt behind these attacks, and so they are still our number one priority."

"But without any leads, there is no mission," Red Tornado said, taking command of the team once more. Connor narrowed his eyes at him, still hating being controlled like a child. But Red Tornado was right, Kaldur thought. Without any leads, they could do nothing but wait for their next assignment.

"Well," Connor said, an edge to his voice, "if there's nothing to do, no point in standing around here."

"Connor!" Megan said, spinning around just as he stormed out of the room. She didn't chase after him though, for she still knew that he needed his time alone. To do whatever. Brood, most likely. Almost two years later and he still acted like clone with a short fuze.

Don't worry, Artemis mentally told her. He'll be back. He always comes back.

"I will be leaving you," Red Tornado announced, already making for the Zeta tubes. Inside the tube, the voiceover announced him, and he was gone. The bright beams of light appeared in a dizzying flash and disappeared just as quickly.

Artemis slapped at her skin again, trying to make the infectious itch go away without having to claw at it with her nails. She had already broken so much of her nails off that there wasn't really anything to scratch with, but it didn't really matter to her. Just as she began raking her nails over her skin again, leaving trails of bright red marks, Kaldur put his hands out to stop her.

"You've been scratching them all day," he said.

Out of the sides of his eyes, he saw Zatanna nudge Megan, and the two of them slowly backed away, leaving Kaldur and Artemis in the center of the room. Apparently he was not the only one who sensed the attraction. He bit his lip, as if that could somehow keep him from blushing.

Artemis never noticed.

"No matter what I put on them, they won't go away," Artemis told him. Her fingers twitched, just egging to scratch something. "I've taken like a dozen hot showers, becoming sweatier and stickier during each, put on about a million layers of bug spray! Nothing!"

Kaldur rolled her arm over, looking at the bite marks.

"Just because they are immune to most repellants doesn't mean that they are immune to everything. Give me about a day, and perhaps I can have something that will work against them." He dropped her hands, and turned his gaze from her arms to her. "Let us just hope they were not carrying diseases."

"Yeah," Artemis agreed, not even having considered that.

Of all the ways she had pictured dying, a bug bite had never been one of the scenarios to cross her mind. She had always had nightmares about drowning, or having her throat slit, or falling off a tower, or having her skull bashed in, or all sorts of other horrifying things that usually involved her either bleeding to death or being crushed.

But a bug bite?

That would have to be the stupidest way to die, Artemis thought.

An hour later, Artemis sat rubbing her arm while she watched the samples of her blood spin around and 'round in the small containers, data flashing on the computers as they evaluated any traces of disease or second-hand coding that might have seeped into her DNA.

The mechanical whirl of the machines droned on and on, loud and annoying.

"It does appear that there were slight traces of microorganisms that may have been transferred during contact," Megan said, eyes scanning the numerous lines of text and code on the screens. "Luckily, I don't see any evidence that you're infected."

"And what about me?" Zatanna asked, strolling into the room with Wolf close on her heels. Pulling up the sleeve of her thin cardigan, she showed the rest of the team the latest bites and bruises on her arm.

"Mmm," Megan hummed as she thought.

"Relax, Zatanna," Artemis told her. "It's probably nothing. Just like it was with me."

She felt Kaldur's hand come down and rest on her shoulder, and she fell quiet. Something warm rose up inside her chest, but with her next breath, it was gone. Artemis knew she hadn't imagined it, though. More and more often she felt that way when she was around Kaldur, and she noticed that the two of them were spending more time together than they had in the past.

"But still, caution needs to be taken," he told her gently.

Focusing on Zatanna, he told her, "Within the next few hours, either the League or ourselves will have developed something to help reduce the risk that these modified mosquitoes pose. Not only will it get rid of the bite marks, but hopefully will act as a repellent as well."

"That'd be a relief."

As Zatanna turned her attention to Megan and what she was saying about the biological structures, Kaldur turned his attention back to Artemis. His hand still lingered on her shoulder, and he gave a gentle squeeze. His fingers slid off of her slowly, brushing her skin so that the contact felt like it had left a lingering touch on her nerves.

_________________________________________________________________________

There were two parts to the antibodies they had made, and four parts to their plan of action.

Once Dick and Wally had gotten to the cave, and Batman had overviewed the entire plan of action, the backup plans of action, and had changed the path the Bioship was to travel, the team was ready to leave for the mission.

Night was falling just as they were getting ready, and for that Artemis was grateful.

It was cooling down, and the humidity usually lessened around this time. Powerful sea breezes at night helped to keep her cool, and she hoped she wouldn't be sweating by simply standing outside for too long.

Part one was the vaccination. Formulated within a matter of hours and perfected under the microscope, they injected the medicine into themselves and felt the effect immediately. The bites that Artemis, Zatanna, Wally, and Dick had all gotten stopped itching at once, and the redness around their bite marks faded away.

The second part was the repellent, which had to be applied manually. It was a potent liquid with a strong smell that burned the insides of the nose and made the eyes water, and it was poured onto clothes and rubbed all over the skin. Once the team was rubbed down with the repellent, and the liquid fully absorbed into the skin, they were off once more.

Beneath them, the expanse of the land blurred as they sped onwards, watching the drastic changes in environment as the Bioship neared their destination. From the ocean and beaches, and past a repeating pattern of cities and forests.

Megan noticed, as she steered the Bioship, that Kaldur and Artemis kept sneaking glances at each other. A small turn of the head, a quick dart of the eyes, never lasting for more than a couple of seconds before they both turned and faced the windshield once more. Even with the adrenaline of their mission pounding through her, she couldn't help but wonder about the two of them.

Wonder if maybe she could play matchmaker and get the two of them officially together.

Her thoughts were cut short as she felt the sickness in the Bioship, the poison of the air seeping into the organic materials and making both the ship and her nauseated.

"We're approaching," Megan told them all, and the team stood, ready to deploy.

Zatanna and Kid Flash were the first to jump out. The Bioship flew close to the ground, so when they landed it was only from nine feet to the ground. Having established the mental link, the team was off, Zatanna and Kid Flash heading off.

Suberboy and Robin were next.

Then Miss Martian and Artemis. Miss Martian turned to face Aqualad, who took her place at the controls. "Take care of my girl," she told him.

"I will," he promised.

Artemis grabbed onto the martian, and together they flew down to the ground. Miss Martian set her down softly, not wanting to injury her healed leg. She was well enough to fight and run and do all sorts of acrobatics, but she still favored one leg over the other. One bad fall and Artemis would most likely be limping again.

The two women watched as the Bioship—or rather the shape of the Bioship—flew off into the distance, the camouflage mode making it disappear all the faster. Miss Martian still looked in the distance where the ship had flown, missing it already.

Don't worry, Artemis said mentally.

Miss Martian turned her focus ahead. Artemis was leading on, tracking their way through the forest.

Kaldur and the Bioship will be fine, Artemis told her with a smile. Right Kaldur?

Yes, came Aqualad's mental voice. Neither of us will be harmed.

Mosquitoes started to buzz around both Artemis and Miss Martian, flapping their oversized bodies far too close to be comfortable. But still, they didn't bite, and Miss Martian swatted them away with her telepathy. From their mental link, the other teammates also had the annoying mosquitoes buzzing around them as well. But no bites were reported.

Upon nearing the newest headquarters, surveillance began. Mentally, Miss Martian scanned the perimeters, looking for signs of a close mind. Superboy chimed in with his readings, after using four different types of vision. Robin scanned the grounds with all his devices.

Kaldur, Miss Martian said, we have the all clear. We're going in.

I'll await your signal, he said.


	3. Chapter 3

No mission ever went smoothly. But so far, this had been the closest the Team had actually come to having a plan work out as intended. Getting their asses kicked was something they had accounted for, getting bruised and beaten and possibly failing, all something planned on. But they were winning, taking down the villains as the time rolled forever onwards.

But at the turn of an hour, with Miss Martian's scream deafening them both physically and mentally, the smoothness they thought they had cracked wide open like the jagged earth after a quake.

Count Vertigo was on his knees in front of her, unable to nauseate anyone, his hands pressed hard to his head as Megan prodded around in his mind, slowly destroying him. Only to have Wotan come to his rescue, and set her on fire.

"Megan!" Artemis screamed, watching as her friend's long red hair burned and her clothes turned to a rainbow of red.

Kaldur was the first to react, sending a torrent of water straight at her and drenching her until the smoldering stopped. Even wet, she still screamed, clutching herself by wrapping her arms around her. The fire had been so close to her. So close, and she could still feel the flames licking at her scalp, burning away her cloak, and whispering across her skin.

With a roar, Superboy leapt forward and punched Wotan square in the face, sending him flying into Count Vertigo and having the two of them crashing hard into the ground, breaking the hard packed dirt and rocks around them.

"Megan!" Artemis shouted again, rushing over to her collapsed friend and pulling her to her feet. Megan threw herself into Artemis' arms, squeezing her tightly and letting tears roll freely down her face. "It's okay, it's okay," Artemis muttered, repeating the phrase over and over again until Megan finally broke free from her, able to fight once more.

Artemis brushed her thumb along Megan's cheek, drying her tears, and then turned to see Superboy pounding away on the two villains without a hint of remorse.

"My babies!" was the next terrible scream to fill the night.

From the fire that had nearly consumed Megan, the flames had surged around and caught on the foliage. Trees, bushes, grasses, vines, and everything green or earthy exploded in an swirling eruption of orange and red. The heat washed over them all, and Megan had to fly back several paces to keep from being burned all over again.

Poison Ivy was screaming for someone to put out the fire. Beneath her hands, she tried desperately to save her plants, but they only withered away, blackening as all life was drained from them. Atomic Skull sent out his beams of energy, fueling the plants, but also fueling the fire. The fire grew enormous around them all, and Poison Ivy became so infuriated she turned on him, punching Atomic Skull full in the face and sending him broken and clattering to the ground.

"Semalf eid!" Zatanna shouted.

Megan sank to the ground, eternally grateful to Zatanna. Still wobbling, she took the other villains down, sending out mental beam so strong (and only aimed at them) that they lost consciousness within seconds. Kid Flash rushed to them in a blur, handcuffing and restraining them before the blink of an eye.

Robin had bound together Count Vertigo and Wotan, using whatever technology he had to disable their powers. Robin smiled to himself, looking at his handiwork, and then clicked on his communicator to send their data files back to the ship.

"Well, that's all of them!" Kid Flash said, hauling a single character over his shoulder.

"No," Kaldur said, "Poison Ivy is unaccounted for."

Eyes widening, they all looked around and discovered that he was right. Of all the villains they had captured, she was not among them.

"Great!" said Robin, throwing his hands up into the air. "We let her escape! Now this mission is a complete—"

"No, it is not," Kaldur cut him off. Megan was leaning heavily on Kaldur's shoulder, still traumatized by nearly burning to death. Just as he had carried Artemis when she had broken her leg, he now carried Megan with him back to the Bioship.

"Our mission may not have been a complete success, but we have accomplished much."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Megan let the cold water of the showers pour over her, trying to drown away the feeling of the fire scorching her, so close to her skin and so close to her brain. She shivered, mostly from the cold of the water, but the memories is what hit her deep.

"Hey, you okay?" said a soft, soothing voice from behind her.

Artemis walked up behind her, steam from the heat of her own shower rolling off of her. But Megan didn't mind. Even when she pressed her warm hands onto her back, it felt soothing. She welcomed Artemis' touch.

"I've been better," said Megan honestly.

She didn't turn around to look at her, but stayed put underneath her own stream of cold water. Behind her, Artemis shivered as the spray of the cold water hit her naked body. Sympathetically, Megan took a few small steps backwards, letting Artemis drift farther away from the chilling stream.

Megan's hands were crossed over her chest; she was hugging herself, as she normally did when her emotions became distressing. Her arms covered her naked breasts, but it wasn't out of shame. Artemis looped her hands around her waist, clasping at the front, and she hugged Megan to her in attempt to make her happier.

A blush rose to Megan's cheeks as she suddenly realized how close and naked they both were.

"Part of your hair is singed off," Artemis noted, and Megan shuddered again.

"Not that that's a bad thing!" Artemis exclaimed, fearing she had said the wrong thing. "Your hair still looks really good. Beautiful." Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought. She was still saying the wrong thing.

"It's not my hair that bothers me. I can grow it back within a matter of seconds." To prove her point, Megan shapeshifted her hair back to its original state. Long, red, and tickling her shoulder blades even when soaking wet.

"To think, I was on fire. I myself was on fire!" Against the coldness of the shower water, hot tears sprung into her eyes, and burned her cheeks as they fell.

"But you're better now. Under some nice…very cold…water!" She paused. "It's gonna be okay. You're okay." Artemis knew she didn't sound all that reassuring, but she didn't know what else to say.

With a sigh, Megan spun around, facing Artemis at last.

Now it was her turn to blush. Megan pretended not to notice the bright pink that ran across her cheeks, or the way her eyes quickly darted down to see their breasts pressed together. A small, shy smile crept onto the archer's face. Megan hugged her tighter, thanking her for her reassuring words.

"Anytime," Artemis said.

Her breath caught in her throat when Megan's eyes met her own. There was something emotional in them, something deeper than she could imagine. So many different things were happening behind those normally bright eyes of hers, and it drew Artemis in deep.

"I really mean it," Megan whispered.

Neither of them knew what would have happened next if Conner had not yelled out, "Are you guys doing okay? You've been in there for a while?"

Reluctantly, the two of them unclasped each other, going back to their own stream of shower water.

"He worries about me," Megan told her.

"We all do," Artemis replied. She pulled her brush through her long, golden blonde hair once more, trying to get rid of the last bits of dirt and blood that was tangled within the strands. Alternating between the brushing, washing, and conditioning, Megan watched her calmly.

Her hair really is beautiful, Megan thought to herself.

"Would you like some help?" Megan blurted out suddenly. Both of them exchanged surprised looks.

"I—uh—I suppose."

Turning off her own shower, Megan timidly stepped forward and took the brush from Artemis' hand. Spinning around, Artemis felt the brush slide through her hair. Megan took her time, watching the parting of the strands as the bristles slowly made their way down. She did this repeatedly, watching the separating strands with unusual intensity.

"Guys?" Conner's voice came a bit louder. "You doing okay in there?"

"Yeah, we're good," Megan shouted back.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

There was no mistaking Batman's disappointed glare, even with the bat mask on.

Kaldur understood. Poison Ivy gone meant that their mission had not been a success, even with the rest of them having been captured, questioned, and then put into Arkham Asylum and Belle Reve. Kaldur listened all the while he spoke, soaking in his words like a sponge. Yes, he kept saying, he understood and he will lead his team to capture Poison Ivy.

"Good," was Batman's final words, before both he and Robin disappeared within the Zeta tubes. Kaldur closed his eyes at the bright flash of light, harsh in the nighttime darkness his eyes had grown accustomed to.

With them now gone, he let out a sigh that he had been holding in.

"Tough night?" someone asked.

Spinning around, Kadlur saw Conner leaning up against the nearby wall, watching him almost boredly.

"Yes, you could say that," he replied. "Is there something you wish to say?"

Conner shook his head, no.

"Conner, I know that there is something troubling you." Kaldur walked over to him, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. His expression softened, and he said, "I'm just worried about M'gann is all."

"Yes, I can understand that. But Megan is a very strong opponent. I'm sure there is nothing to worry about."

For a while, no one said anything.

There was just nothing to talk about. They had a missing villain, a disappointed review by the members of the Justice League, and the summer heat was still thick and boggy in the air while giant mosquitos still swarmed about.

At the thoughts of the mosquitos, Kaldur felt an itch form in his hand, and absent-mindedly he scratched it. He didn't know how hard his nails were digging into his skin until he saw dark red marks forming on the knuckles and top.

"Do you feel the same way about Artemis?"

Conner's question took him by surprise, by still Kaldur did not let his stunned expression show. Not for long, anyway. He took a breath, meaning to say something, but the words died on his lips. Trying again, the words formed.

"Is it really so obvious?"

Connor nodded, yes.

"The way you look at her…the way you're constantly hanging around her…it couldn't be more obvious."

Kaldur thought back to all the times he had spent with Artemis, making sure she was not injured and telling her stories, always making an effort to be near her. The talks they'd had, where each time they got deeper, more in depth. The deepened gaze he gave whenever she looked at him, the smile that he gave her that she returned every single time.

"Perhaps…she feels the same way?" he asked hopefully.

"I say she does. The looks she gives you all the time. I'm still waiting for you guys to do it."

"By 'it'…do you mean—?"

"Kiss," Conner said, and repeated the word for emphasis.

From beyond the two of them, still lingering in the hallway, Artemis appeared. "It's getting late, you guys," she told them. "Better head off to bed." She then walked off, pretending that she had heard nothing of their conversation.

Hours later, as Kaldur lay in bed, he still could not sleep. Eyes closed, body positioned comfortably, all the sheets kicked off of him, he still struggled to find peace. Tossing and turning, getting up to adjust the fan that he had directed on him; nothing helped.

The heat was unbearable, and even with him fully naked he still felt too hot. A thin layer of sweat clung to his skin, and he felt that he couldn't get dry. Thoughts of Atlantis came to his mind, of the nice, cool ocean water and a restful sleep in a bed that rocked with the currents of the ocean. Waking up and being able to swim out of bed, calmly awakening his muscles as he tiredly floated with the current.

They were such wonderful thoughts, and it only made him hate it on the surface even more.

Everything felt thick and muggy.

New England summers could be hot, but this was just unnatural. He knew that somehow the Injustice League was still behind this heat wave, and the modified mosquitos. His left hand had been itching all night, and scratching it did nothing to help him sleep.

He thought that if maybe they had captured Poison Ivy along with the rest, the heat wave might have already ended.

But it wasn't that simple. Nothing ever was.

By the time Kaldur finally got to sleep, if was just a few minutes before dawn. It sunk down onto him like a heavy blanket, forcing his eyes closed and his body to relax, while he had black, dreamless thoughts. A dreamless sleep wasn't something that normally happened to him, so he was surprised that when he woke he could not recall a single image.

He felt far from refreshed.

The door to his bedroom opened, and in walked Artemis, still in her pajamas. She entered the room quietly, and came to sit on the edge of his bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Kaldur wasn't expecting her to be there when he woke up, but it wasn't unwelcome.

He smiled at her as a greeting, then, leaning up with a moan, he asked, "What is it, Artemis?"

"Let me see your hand," she demanded.

Wasting no time, she pulled Kaldur's hands up to her, inspecting them. Her eyes ran up and down the length of his arms, and she spun his hands around. Her focus was mainly on his naked skin, but she had to check his tattoos as well, for even they could be at risk. Finally, with a sigh, she dropped them back down onto the bedsheets.

"What is it?" he asked her again.

"I—we—the team, that is—thought that you might have been bitten or something, and from the red marks on her arms, it looks like you have been."

Kaldur looked down at his arms, his eyes still adjusting to the early morning light. He did see streaks of red across the brown of his skin, something he hadn't seen last night. Or something that hadn't been there last night. It was still possible that whatever it was could have developed without him noticing as he slept.

"So, uh," Artemis said as she stood back up, pointedly looking away from Kaldur's body, "Wally and the others want to—they think they might have a cure, or something." She was stuttering badly, and a blush was running through her body, making her skin feel hot.

As if she wasn't sweating enough already in the summer heat.

"I'm gonna be out with Megan," Artemis said just as she got to the door. "We'll be at the drug store. See ya."

When the door clicked closed, Kaldur rolled himself off his bed, cooling himself off by the fan. As he did so, he let more natural lighting filter in so that the room was now lit up fully. Slowly, he turned his arms this way and that, examining the small red marks that had appeared on his skin. They itched, but he didn't scratch them, knowing that would only make them worse. Still, he couldn't recall ever getting bit by a mosquito. Not even a small, normal one.

Pulling his clothes back on, he left the quietness of his room and made his way to the main hall, where several members of the Team and Justice League stood around the digital screens. It was an organized mess of maps, villain profiles, genetic coding structures, and so much more.

Apparently this is more serious than I thought.

"Kaldur!" said Wally, running over to him.

He looped his arm around his friend, pulling his hand up to the light and looking over the red marks. The smile that he'd had a second ago fell from his face. A small bud of panic rose up in Kaldur's chest, but he quickly squished it back down. He needed to remain calm, and besides, he didn't even know what was so important yet.

He shrugged Wally's arm off of him, and walked up to the screens.

Immediately, he was greeted with horrifying images. Text along the screens described the mosquitoes as bigger and badder than they had been before; more deadly, at a greater risk to cause horrible infections, and they had evolved past the vaccines that the Team had brewed up. His eyes widened as he read through the text, describing each detail with an underlaying feeling of unease.

"Kaldur'ahm," said Aquaman, striding forward to greet him.

The two Atlanteans raised their fists to their foreheads in a sign of greeting, them let them both drop. Kaldur noticed a worry etched in the features of his king, and the unease within him deepened.

"Let us see your arms," he told Kaldur.

Kaldur held them out for all to see, and the people around him gathered in closer, examining the red marks and bites that had sprung up on his arms. A grave look passed before each of their eyes, and that was when Kaldur knew that he was in for the fight of his life.

"So it is true, what Artemis has reported," said J'onn. "You too have been infected."

A moment passed before he explained. "This follows a pattern. When the Team was vaccinated, it was the humans amongst you who was first ill. After that, it was the non-humans that have become ill. You, M'gann, and Connor all suffer from the same markings."

"What does it mean?" Kaldur asked him.

"We—are not sure…"

"But we do know this," Wally said, chiming into the conversation. His usual cheerful voice contrasted with the serious tones of norm. "The mosquitoes genetic coding has more than one part to it. The Cobra Venom wasn't the only venom in these things, and while we're at it, not only mosquitoes are the ones being injected." He pointed to the screens, making the images change with each flick of the wrist. "There's dragonflies, flies, gnats, hey—even spiders."

He rushed over to Kaldur and leaned in close.

"As if we needed another reason to hate spiders."

Kaldur looked back down at his arms, and to his surprise he saw that in between the short time he had awoken to now, the red markings had spread a great deal. They were becoming brighter, too, and bumps were starting to form on the surface of his skin. The area with the tattoos remained unaffected.

"It has spread," he told everyone.

"We had expected so," J'onn said once more. "My niece, and Connor too, have been monitored for the past few hours. The red markings on them—marks of infection, I believe—has spread through their bodies at an alarming rate."

"Go wait in the infirmary," Batman told him, and Kaldur did just as he said.

Wally walked along with him, trying to cheer him up with his latest story.

___________________________________________________________________________

The drug store was pretty much picked over as a whole.

Megan walked through the aisles again and again, noting how vacant everything looked. The bug spray section was especially clear, with only one treatment still left on the shelves. The nonprescription drugs were all gone as well, with only a small little bottle left on the floor. Stooping, Megan picked the pill bottle up and put it back on its place on the shelves.

Seems like we're not the only ones having bug problems, Megan said mentally.

I'm just glad I'm itch-free, Artemis thought back. A mental force of Megan's power washed over her, and she regretted what she had said. Sorry, she thought back to her, not meaning to be insensitive or anything...

Megan still itched at her bites.

Looks like I can't pick up anything here, Megan said, instantly forgiving her.

Why not? Artemis asked.

Our Team is making a medicine for us back at the cave, and if I buy these I might take them away from someone who needs them.

But, Megan, the Justice League already gave out the vaccine to the hospitals. People are getting rid of the Cobra Venom mosquito bites as we speak.

Humans are getting rid of that, Megan reminded her, putting emphasis on humans.

Again, Megan's emotions slammed into Artemis' mind once more. She repeated sorry until Megan's emotional blows subsided. Artemis put a hand to her head, feeling a migraine start to come on. Megan didn't know how powerful her telepathy was becoming, so she hadn't realized she had hurt Artemis.

Artemis shook it off.

"Hello, Megan!" she shouted out suddenly, startling both Artemis and the clerk behind the counter. Megan looked down out her arm, watching as splotches of red spread further down on her arm. The edges of the blood-colored bites was lined with a freakishly pale white.

"That can't be healthy," Artemis mumbled.

"It isn't," Megan said aloud. She spun her head and said, "I think we need to get back—home." Her eyes drifted back over to the clerk sitting behind the counter, but it was clear that they didn't care what they were saying.

Just as they stepped outside, Wally came running up to them. In typical Wally-fashion, he put on a wide grin and looped both his arms around their shoulders. "Hey, ladies," he said, "we really need you back at the cave, like, asap."

"What's asap?" Megan asked.

"As soon as possible," Artemis answered, cutting Wally off before he could get a single word out.

"Yeah," Wally said, an edge of bitterness to his voice, "as soon as possible. We're getting ready to immunize Kaldur, and Connor, oh! and you too Megan…so…yeah…"

And with that, he sped off again, his body nothing more than a blur.

__________________________________________________________________________________

"I really don't like needles," Megan whispered after being stuck for the third time. She had let her skin transform back to the Martian green they were all so used to seeing, but still the redness was apparent on her hands, and her arms, and it was starting to cover her chest.

"You know what I really don't like?" Connor asked, jumping up to his feet and pulling the needle out of him. The fluid from the syringe squirted out onto his arm, where it was useless. "I really don't like sitting around doing nothing while there's a mission to be done!"

"Connor—" Megan said.

"I'm already infected! Why don't I go out and help you guys?!"

"Because your immune system is weak," Robin said back to him. He turned off the digital screens that were illuminated in front of him, and strode up to Connor, defiant. "You go out there, and there's no telling what might happen to you!"

"Or to you!" Connor snapped back. "I'm plenty capable!"

"So are we!"

Zatanna, Wally, and Artemis all exchanged exasperated looks while the two argued.

"Besides, you can't communicate without M'gann's telepathy!" Connor told him, jabbing a finger towards Robin's chest. "And what about the Bioship? It's responsive to her; she'd have to give it command before someone else could take over!"

"Connor, enough," M'gann said, jumping to her feet.

"You're staying, we're going. End of discussion," Robin said. Superboy snarled, and leaned in closer to him, challenging him. Robin didn't back down. Megan placed her hand upon his shoulder, pulling him back away from the fight she could sense was about to happen.

"It's no big deal," she told him, "it won't kill us to take a mission off."

"You can't possibly know that," he shot back. Within another second, though, he sighed, defeated, and went back to sit down. "Okay. Fine. I'll stay put." He looked back to Robin. "Have a good mission."

After the Team had left, Connor stormed out of the room, going off to wherever it was he went when he was angry. Megan and Kaldur were left alone in the room, wondering about their absent friends. Medical supplies still littered the room, and it made Megan slightly uncomfortable. Needles and syringes and surgical steel…she shuddered.

"Are you alright?" Kaldur asked her.

She nodded.

"Are you sure? It's not another side effect of whatever infection we have, is it?"

Again, Megan only shook her head. No.

Kaldur leaned back, sighing and rubbing a hand across his forehead. Megan noticed that small beads of sweat had begun to bead around his hairline. She said nothing of it. The summer was becoming brutal, with heat waves every single day. She had started to stay inside more, and cling to the shadiest of spots. And this was only the beginning of summer—she didn't want to think about what it would be like mid-summer, when it was at its hottest.

She'd probably start begging to go to Superman's Fortress of Solitude. She giggled at the thought. Quietly, but she was still heard.

"What is it?" Kaldur asked her.

"Oh, nothing." Megan waved it off. "Hello, Megan," she said, an idea popping into her head. Turning to Kaldur, she said "You don't really want to spend all night in here, do you?"

"I don't. But where else should we go? All of our medicine is here."

"Yeah, but we're not confined here." She leapt up onto her feet, making her way towards the door. She held it open, beckoning for him to follow. Making his way to his own feet, Kaldur followed Megan out of the infirmary, and through the many corridors of the Cave.

"We don't even have to stay in the Cave," she said to him as they walked. "We could go anywhere."

"But I do not think that would be such a good idea," Kaldur replied. "If we are needed for something, and we are not at the Cave, we might—"

Megan cut him off. "I know, I know. I was just—thinking aloud. Besides I still planned on having our communicators." She shook her head. "Only a thought. Besides, I know where I want to go!"

Lifting herself off of her feet, she flew away, down the hallways and through rooms, with Kaldur running to keep up with her. When she finally landed, she was near the old hanger, right where the room's landing cascaded down into the ocean water.

"Ta Da!" she said, scratching at her arm.

Kaldur noticed that the red markings were getting brighter, and when he put his hand close, he could feel heat emanating off of them. Megan just kept scratching at her arm, trying to get rid of the itch that just wouldn't go away.

"Megan…perhaps we should go back to—"

"No, no! I'm fine," Megan told him, pointedly not looking at the concern on his face. "Just a small scratch…"

"That is not a small scratch," he told her, pointing. Spinning her arm, Megan audibly gasped in horror. She saw that a cut had opened up on her arm, hot and bloody.

"Okay…not good…"

She clasped a single green hand over her arm, trying to make it go away. Trying to morph her skin around it, so that she didn't have to look at it anymore. Or trying to heal it, but she wasn't an expert in healing really anyone. Her eyes closed to the sight.

Dizziness crashed into her.

She was only faintly aware of Kaldur saying something urgent.

Even if his words didn't register, Kaldur had grabbed her arm and pulled her away, leading her slowly towards something. Megan was confused, but her head was swimming, and she couldn't really make sense of anything at that time. The world around her spun, and things seemed to be tinted blue. She wanted to ask what was going on, where he was taking her, but she didn't even know if she was still moving. She couldn't feel Kaldur's hand upon her, and she didn't feel her feet underneath her.

Everything was changing, the dark blue tint becoming darker.

Megan felt her throat vibrate, and she knew she had let out a moan. Or a word. Or something. Her voice had been in the air, she knew that much.

Kaldur had taken her back to the infirmary, and just as he was about to lead her through the doorway, Megan blacked out. He looked behind him, horror on his face, and scooped down to pick her up. Carrying her in his arms, he walked back into the infirmary, setting her down on the cot.

As he carried her, he couldn't help but notice how heavy she felt in his arms. His arms shook badly, and he realized that he was getting weaker. He had carried her before, when he was in better health, so he knew that the fault was his. He looked down at his arms, holding them straight out in front of him, and saw that even without burden they trembled.

When his own vision started tinting to a bluish hue, he knew that he needed help.

Calmly, he walked over to the communication system sitting upon the counter. Taking a single earbud, and amping up the sensitivity to the microphone, Kaldur said, "Cave to Watchtower. We have an issue at the Cave. Miss Martian has blacked out, and I think I'm about to follow suit…"

There was a ringing in his ears.

And he was gone with her.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Seriously? Roses?" Kid Flash asked, giving the rose a bat with his hand. He rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed. "How cliché. A barrier of thorny roses; what is this, some kind of fairytale?"

"The thorns shouldn't be any problem," Zatanna said, reaching a glove hand out to prick her finger against a single thorn. The sharp edge of the vine couldn't even break through her glove. It was so weak that it snapped off with the pressure of her finger.

She flicked it away, and then parted the thick rosy barrier. They were more than bushes, but an entire field of wild roses, with the top far above their heads. Zatanna fearlessly stepped into them, her hands parting the plants easily enough. There was no scrape or scratch on her from the roses, so she shrugged and called for them to follow her.

Artemis stepped in second, beating both of the boys to it. She always had that cockiness to her personality that made her want to constantly prove she was brave. Braver than the others, at least. So boldly she stepped forward, ignoring the small little scratches the thorns gave her. They didn't mar her skin, or even hurt; only tickled a little bit.

"This seems too easy," Robin said, eyeing the roses with suspicion.

Kid Flash stood beside Robin, his arms crossed. He looked down at his friend, also feeling that bud of suspicion growing within him. Something about this just didn't sit well with them, and it gave them a clench to their stomachs. Something much worse was coming, something far far worse, and they just couldn't see it.

Not yet.

Robin took out his scanners, and the blue beams of light illuminated upon the thorny vines, the red petals, and the thick green stems. Zatanna and Artemis moved in closer while Robin's scanners worked away, analyzing everything it could. The two exchanged glances from the sides of their eyes, and even without Miss Martian's telepathy, they knew what the other was thinking.

Have we just walked into a trap?

Should we really be standing in these roses?

The final calculations were coming in, and Robin read them all quickly, scanning the text with an expert eye. Even with no conclusive results, his stomach clenched tighter. It was the lack of results that made him uneasy, made if feel like a hand was squeezing at his throat.

Something was wrong, but the scanners said nothing out of the ordinary.

"They're just…regular roses…"

"You don't really believe that," said Kid Flash. Robin knew by the tone of his voice that it wasn't a question, and once more they all fell into an uneasy silence. Robin read through all the words and data once more, looked up the microbiological structure the monitors had taken, but still he could find nothing wrong. He rubbed his eyes with his gloved hands, trying to clear his vision out of worry that tired eyes were overlooking some critical detail.

But again, nothing.

He turned off the scanners.

"Nothing wrong," he shrugged. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the thorny roses with Zatanna and Artemis, Kid Flash close on his heels.

They batted away the roses that brushed up against their skin, seeming to close in on them and smother them. Pushing them away, they made their way through. Kid Flash kept getting smacked in the face by rose after rose, and he was almost ready to snap because of it.

One more bat upon his face final broke his calm.

"Couldn't we just take the Bioship?!" he screamed out, punching the vines.

"It does seem like a pretty good option right now," Artemis agreed. She was getting sick of all these vines, and she felt hot and sweaty once more. Her hand came up to rub at her neck, trying to brush some of the stickiness away from his skin and let the fabric of her uniform soak it all in. "But flying that thing was so freaking difficult, that if I tried to fly it into straight to Poison Ivy, we'd all be toast. That camouflage mode….oh, you have no idea how hard it is to keep that up," Artemis said.

As the words left her mouth, a mental image of a wobbling, half-seen Bioship flying into enemy territory crossed her mind, and she could just picture Poison Ivy laughing her ass off at the sight of it. No threat, no surprise, no control.

Better to keep it safe away from her, and continue on on foot. Fewer mistakes, hopefully.

"Hey, I could drive!" Robin suggested, to which everyone rolled their eyes.

Spinning once more, they continued on, forcing their way through the thick patch. Robin held his hand up to his face, turning on the monitors once more. The digital screen appeared in the air, blue and wavering, and Robin whispered to them, "Poison Ivy is close by. About two hundred yards, that way—" he pointed.

They were about to press forward, when;

"Uh, Robin—" Artemis said, looking down at the blood pooling beneath their feet, "I think we may have problem."


	5. Chapter 5

Artemis stared down at her bare arms, as blood bloomed upon the surface of her skin and flowed freely. The blood pooled on her skin before overflowing and spilling down upon the ground. There were no cuts, or scrapes, or marks. No breakage on the skin whatsoever, and yet fountains of blood was pouring out of her.

She wasn't the only one. Robin noticed is own arms becoming red and slick with blood; his arms and his face. Behind his mask, his eyes widened in horror. Trembling, he put a gloved hand to his face, and pulled it away to reveal a damp, dark stain glistening upon the black fabric. Zatanna and Kid Flash had their problems too. Blood was seeping through their unbroken skin and trickling down their faces like a waterfall.

Something was definitely wrong.

Kid Flash took a couple of steps back. His hand was pressed to his cheek in attempt to stop the blood loss, but it was all in vain. Swiveling his head back around, he looked at the enormous patch of roses they had gone through, his mind racing to what to do now. He thought that maybe he could bring the Bioship back, but that would mean they had failed the mission.

"Don't," Robin told him, knowing what he was thinking. "We're going through with this."

The roses and thorny vines all started moving, their green and red bodies twisting around them and circling around them, pricking their skin and brushing their petals against their skin. They all cried out, trying to free themselves. They knew their mistake; they had waited too long to ambush her…having been too focused on their blood leaking through their skin.

Robin tried cutting away at them with his knives and throwing darts, but all in vain. The plants were too strong, their skin too thick, and they convulsed in pain before sinking their thorns into the bodies of the teammates

Artemis kicked at them all she could, struggling to free her arms from the vine enclosed around her body, squeezing her until her lungs felt like they were being crushed and her bloody skin felt like it was finally being cut open. An excuse for the blood, at least.

"~Seniv rehtiw~!" Zatanna screamed out, and the rose plants shrunk back down away from her. The spell didn't work fully, for new ones reached out for her body, snaking around her and squeezing her in, wrapping around her torso and her throat, the rose petals making small little trails upon her lips and cheeks.

"~Pots~!" she said. The roses stopped.

Where the petals of the red roses had touched, her skin started to blush a bright red, increasing in color until small little droplets of blood started to form upon her cheeks and lips. A small little trickle ran down her face, gradually becoming stronger until an entire river of blood erupted from her lips.

"The petals!" Zatanna told them, the realization finally hitting her. "The petals can make us bleed!"

"Of course!" Robin said. If he could have slapped himself on the forehead, he would have. But the vines wrapped around his free arms, spreading them out and away from is body, rendering him almost helpless. He struggled to pull his arms back to himself, to help himself get free.

All the while, a hideous laugh permeated the air.

Poison Ivy stepped through the roses, the plants parting for her like the biblical red sea. She planted her hands upon her hips, and looked at the four struggling heroes with a deadly glimmer in her eyes.

"Now, now, stop struggling," Poison Ivy said in a smooth voice. "It'll only make it worse for you."

"~Seniv rehtiw~!" Zatanna shouted again.

For a split second, the vines became weak and withered once more, before they grew in size, doubling in strength and girth, and squeezing around her neck until large bruises had formed and she was struggling for air once more. Tears sprung into her eyes as she fought for breath.

"Don't act so surprised," said another voice.

Wotan stepped through the deadly roses as well, malice in his bright red eyes. Zatanna gawked at him. How had he escaped Belle Reve? Or Arkham Asylum? What the hell was he doing walking free once more?

"My magic is far stronger than yours," he told her. He raised his hands and evil energy started seeping around them, the red brightening the dark of the night and the deadly vines becoming stronger, bigger, and bloodier.

Kid Flash had stopped struggling, and now began hyper-vibrating his molecules. The blood bounced off of him, and his body and uniform started easing their way through the plants, freeing him. He kept vibrating, easing himself away from the fight, trying to get free. When his feet touched the ground once more, he ran into action, speeding past the thorns and petals and aiming for the two villains.

A scream tore through his throat as he collapsed down to the ground, landing on his hands and knees and gasping for breath as the whole world spun around him.

Vertigo? he wondered.

But it wasn't Vertigo, since he was still imprisoned. Wotan had captured his ablities, and now he was able to bring everyone to their knees just as his former alliance had once done. Kid Flash sunk down onto the ground, trying not to vomit or faint, crawling slowly towards them.

"Pathetic," Poison Ivy said.

At her call, the nearest thorny vine wrapped tightly around his ankle and picked him up, before snapping him in the air and throwing him far away. He thought that he might have screamed as he fell, but he didn't know for sure. Everything was spinning, and nothing made sense, and when he hit the ground he did nothing, for he couldn't even think.

Artemis' hand clasped around one of her arrows, and she pulled it free from her quiver. Not even stopping to check her aim, she loaded her bow and sent the arrow flying. It pierced through the thick vines effortlessly. She had been meaning to hit either Wotan or Poison Ivy, but instead the arrow embedded itself into the thick tangle of green. Artemis held her breath, and the next moment a fiery explosion tore through the night.

Fire and smoke and the deafening sound of the explosives going off. Debris of green vines and blood-letting roses showered down upon them, followed by Poison Ivy's screams of her babies.

Artemis loaded the next arrow, and shot immediately again.

Once more, a bright and deafening explosion roared through the night, and more of the plants were destroyed.

She fell free from the plants' clutches, with Robin and Zatanna following suit.

Waves of nausea spread through the air, and Artemis found her bleeding self brought to her knees. Robin winced, his gloved hands pressing up against his head, but nothing would help. His legs wobbled before he collapsed down, the throwing darts between his fingers falling free.

"~Natow! Ecaf em! Won~!" Zatanna screamed. Bright, yellow light illuminated her eyes, and sparks of her magic flew around her, powerful and fierce. Wotan hadn't expected to be hit by such power. Zatanna gave everything she had into her magic, shooting at Wotan without mercy.

The nausea that pained their minds finally ended as Wotan was struck, and both Artemis and Robin forced themselves back up to their feet. More vines were slithering around them, their thorns biting into their skin and the rose petals brushing up against their skin, making them bleed evermore. Poison Ivy kept saying something, but everything sounded distant.

Like things were underwater.

Flashes of yellow and red filled their vision, bright and blurring.

"~Etargetnisid~!" Zatanna's voice rang out.

Artemis had her arrows in her hands once more, stringing them quickly and then loosing them with only a second to aim. Poison Ivy dodged them all easily enough, though she noticed that she didn't use her plants to block her. She let them fly past her, taking their chances behind her; where they either exploded or bit into frail and feeble brownish-green stems.

Just as Wotan's and Zatanna's magic collided once more in a freakish display of raw power, Artemis and Robin combined their weapons and they landed upon the roses. Almost all of them were destroyed in a thunderous eruption that made the night appear as bright as day. Robin and Artemis fell down flat to the ground as the impact shattered everything around them. Even Zatanna had to give in, falling to the ground to avoid being seriously burned or scarred. As they lay upon the ground, waiting for the lights to dim, blood started flooding their vision, pooling into their eyes until everything was tinted red.

"You bitch!" Poison Ivy screamed, her voice bordering on the edge of something feral. A growl had crept into her usual smooth tone, and the veins in her body stood out with the tension and stress she put on herself. It looked like she was about to start bleeding to.

Just as she had with Atomic Skull, she rushed forward, and kicked both Artemis and Robin in the heads. They groaned in pain, rolling away from her and clutching their pounding skulls. Poison Ivy made to move again, but they both rolled out of the way, quickly stood up on their feet, and returned her anger.

The red of Wotan's powers mixed with the red blood tinting Zatanna's powers, so she didn't see the next blast that he sent her way. She screamed as she was struck, the feeling of a million hot needles tearing into her skin and the front of her body being slammed as if by a train. She screamed as her entire body was lifted off the ground and flew backwards from the force of Wotan's power.

Zatanna felt herself falling, and braced herself for a hard impact on the ground.

An impact that never came.

Slowly, opening her bloody eyes, she saw the face of Kid Flash above her. Distantly, she was aware that she was moving, while laying in his arms. She brushed away the blood on her face with her hand, the stain smearing on the white glove.

"Hey, Kid," she mumbled.

"Hey. How you guys doing?" he returned, running through the dead roses as if they weren't there. Or maybe they really weren't; Artemis having taken care of them all. She didn't know for sure, since her head was spinning and Wally was running too fast for her to look.

"Hey! Wotan!" Kid Flash yelled out. Wotan only had a moment to spin and look in their direction before Kid Flash rammed his body painfully into his, jumping and kicking Wotan's body with his legs. The force combined with the acceleration was enough to break him.

Kid Flash skidded to a stop, and set Zatanna back down onto her feet. His hand rested on her shoulder while she steadied herself.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Don't mention it!" He sped off again, this time running circles around Poison Ivy until the dust was spiraling into a small tornado.

As he ran, a trail of blood followed behind them, gradually gushing into a thick river behind him. Blood was splashing on his boots as he ran, being kicked up into the air with every step. He was starting to slow down, but he kept pushing himself, trying to go far faster. Bright lights were starting to form in his vision, and everything seemed oddly fuzzy and soft.

"Kid! Stop!" he heard Robin's voice say.

He was only too happy to obey.

Artemis ambushed the coughing and choking Poison Ivy, forcing her into submission, while Zatanna bound Wotan with her magic.

"Go…." Robin panted. It felt like he didn't have any air left in his lungs. His body felt oddly weightless, like he was floating up into the air. Swimming with Kaldur, or floating with Megan, or having Connor throw him all the way up to the roof of a skyscraper.

"Go…get…the…Bioship," Robin told Kid Flash.

"Why me?"

"Well…you are…they fastest person…to run away from a fight." Robin laughed a little bit, holding his ribs while pain shot through his body with each chuckle.

"Haha," Kid Flash laughed, but he knew Robin to be right. His head spun this way and that, trying to remember which direction the Bioship was in, before he sped off into the distance. He found the Bioship with ease, and luckily she responded well to his commands. Still, it was difficult for him to steer it.

"Get in," he told them all.

________________________________________________________________________

There had been a jail break. Of course there had been a jail break. Not Belle Reve, for it was far too secure (meaning they had security with absolutely no sense of humor). Arkham Asylum had been broken open, though, and many of the inmates had escaped into the night. Most—hell, nearly all—of the Leaguers were out gathering them up, subduing them and ending their reign of terror before it could even begin.

After throwing the villains back the prison compound of Belle Reve (where they has less chance of escaping), the team showed up bleeding and nearly unconscious to a deathly quiet cave. Only one person was there to greet them when they finally returned: Martian Manhunter. Megan's uncle Jon, as his Earth name was. They all slumped in, holding onto each other as their bloody bodies stumbled over the floor, only to hear the psychic voice echoing in their brains.

We have a problem in the infirmary. Please, come.

"We were heading there anyway," Kid Flash said aloud. He groaned, and put a gloved hand back onto his cheek, still wet and red and sticky. Luckily, the blood was starting to clot, and not as much of it was flowing out of them. But still, they had lost a lot, and they all knew that they were going to need a donation before the night was done.

You need assistance, Jon mentally said to them all.

Before they even knew what was happening, the world was spinning again, flying underneath their feet as the scenes passed before them, and the infirmary was only a few steps away from where they stood. The best assumption was that J'onn had transported them telepathically, but in their dizzy state, they couldn't think clearly enough to be sure.

With a slippery, gloved hand, Robin tried to open the door. It was unlocked, and slightly ajar, so he just feebly pushed on it until the barrier stood wide open. It took him a couple of pushes, but he was't dead set on using a lot of energy.

"You are bleeding!" said J'onn, standing suddenly.

"You're only noticing that now? I thought telepaths—ow!" Kid Flash grunted as Artemis smacked her elbow into him. It wasn't hard, since they were both weak from blood loss, but still enough to make him wince.

"I try not to intrude upon such things. You will all need a blood transfusion, I assume."

"Yes, please," Zatanna said in a small voice.

Once safely on the cots, their blood clotted enough to stop the bleeding and small tubes of fresh blood renewing their bodies, the rest of the team could finally turn their attention to their two comatose teammates.

Jon was doing all he could for them; helping them to heal, bring them back to consciousness, try to communicate with them mentally to find out what it was that had transpired. All he knew was Kaldur had sent out a desperate message asking for help, and that he was the one who answered the call.

Ever since, he'd been nursing them, trying to make them wake.

"So what happened to them?" Robin asked, leaning up. He was careful not to pull the needle out of his arm.

"I am not entirely sure. But I have surmised that the bites that have infected them has attacked their nervous system and thus has put them in this state of unconsciousness. But, unfortunately, I cannot be completely sure." Jon turned his attention from Robin and back to Megan. A look of grief passed the alien's face as he stared down at his niece, Robin noticed, though he couldn't be completely sure since he wasn't an expert on alien facial recognition. "I have tried to wake them telepathically, or perhaps to even communicate with them for long enough to know what has transpired. To my luck, I have been unable to do either."

Robin nodded quietly, understanding what he said.

Even with the medicine they had given them, something had slipped by them once more. It was just like the roses they had walked into. Traps that they couldn't see coming, that injured them and left them in critical condition. The vaccines they had created for them, the medicine, it was supposed to be the best that they had brewed up, supposed to fight off any disease that entered their body. But it hadn't. It had failed.

Just as Robin had failed to notice the deadly aspect of the roses. How the petals could make the skin start to bleed simply by touching you. Maybe…

"Martian Manhunter!" Robin shouted suddenly, making every conscious person in the room jump. "Does the Justice League's information system have an index on rare toxins?"

"Hmmm. I do believe so."

He stepped away from the bed Megan lay on, and went over to the computers that lined the wall. The blue, digital screens appeared before him, illuminating his green face as he typed the codes and passwords into the system. The cursor flashed before finally granting him access, the bar across the screen glowing green. Shifting through the files, and using the advanced search options, Jon eventually pulled up the index that Robin had requested.

"It is here," Jon told him, gesturing to the screen with an open palm. Robin sat up, meaning to move forward to the screen, but stopped when the needle moved in his arm, sending sharp pains shooting up his arm. He grunted, his eyes squeezing shut and his teeth clenching, then sat back down on the cot again, cradling his punctured arm.

"I'll look in a minute."

"Hey, by the way—" said Wally, jumping into the conversation, "where's Connor?"

The team had their mind in such a haze, they didn't notice until Wally had said something. Now their eyes were all glancing around, as if he were in the room and they just couldn't see him.

"Yeah. Where is Connor?" asked Artemis.

"I do not know," Jon said. "I have assumed that he left the cave, and went out on his own. I have a great fear that he is unconscious just as M'gann and Kaldur'ahm are, but I cannot go out searching for him, for I also fear leaving the two of them unattended."

He paused.

He looked in the direction of Megan and Kaldur, unconscious beneath him but looking like they were merely in a deep, relaxing sleep. Then in the direction of the four teammates who were awake, gradually getting stronger as blood filled their circulatory system once more. He put two and two together.

"I have issued a bulletin to the entire League, that Connor is missing, but since almost all of them are indisposed, or simply unavailable, no one has gone searching for them. Since the four of you are now here, you can look after M'gann and Kaldur'ahm. This would allow me to be able to search for Connor."

"Sounds like a great idea," Artemis told him, forcing a smile to her face.

"Yeah, we can definitely handle it."

"Yep."

"Absolutely."

"Then, I shall leave you, and go in search of Connor," he said.

Without another thought, he spun and left the room, leaving the six of them to their own business. He exited the cave quickly, not wanting to delay, and took on a camouflage so that he could fly around the streets unnoticed. He fully did believe that Connor was unconscious just as the other non-humans were, and that he must be found quickly. He didn't know for sure if this was all a part of the plot, and he wanted to believe that it was not, but he had to expect the worst. If Connor was unconscious somewhere—anywhere—then he could very easily be found. Found and captured, or exploited, or anything.

And that was something J'onn could not let happen, lest another hellish plot to use Connor as a weapon arose.

Back at the cave, Robin let the last several ounces of blood flow back into his system before pulling the needle free from his arm. He winced as he did so—though peeling the tape off of was what really stung—and shoved a cotton ball to the small wound before walking over to the waiting screens.

Zatanna walked over to Robin, quietly asking, "So, watcha looking for?"

"Rare toxins."

"I know that," she said, rolling her eyes. "I mean specifically—well, more specific than that."

"I'm just spitballing here, but I think that there must have been some toxin in the roses that was so rare than none of my sensors could have picked it up. It's not Cobra Venom, obviously, but something hard to find. I mean, like, really hard to find."

Artemis walked over, standing between Megan and Kaldur.

Vaguely, she was aware of Wally's presence next to her. But he didn't really matter right then and there.

She had lost people in her life before, but no one truly important. As important as them. They were more than her teammates, they were like her family. One that she had chosen and loved wholeheartedly, instead of the cruel one she had been forced into. Her love for her mother, and for her sister Jade, and even her father, to some extent. She loved them because they were her family. But this was different. They were her family because she loved them.

From Kaldur's face to Megan's face, she let her eyes switch between. She hoped they weren't in any pain—judging from the contented expressions on their faces, it looked like they weren't. That soothed Artemis' worry somewhat.

But what if they never woke up? her fear spoke to her. What if they remain like this forever?

"Hey," Wally said, placing a hand upon Artemis' shoulder. "Don't worry. They're gonna wake up, and be a-okay once more." Artemis tried quirking a smile at him, but found she couldn't. He had read her thoughts as if her were Megan on a telepathic link, for her fears marked every part of her face.

"I hope you're right."

And then, since Wally was Wally, he had to add: "I'm guessing you and Kaldur are gonna have a lot of making up to do when he wakes up."

Artemis' eyes widened. "What?" she asked him.

"Oh, come on," he said gently. "I've noticed how much time the two of you have been spending together lately."

"I worry about all my teammates equally," Artemis returned, then focused her gaze down to the two of her friends. "Including you," she added with a hint of bitterness. But in Artemis' mind, something told her he was right. She did think about Kaldur as more than just a friend—if that was what Wally had been implying, which it had.

Artemis was thinking about how to respond, but her thoughts were cut short when Robin exclaimed, "Ah ha!"

The two of them spun, to see Dick grinning and pointing at a line of text. "I think I found something, guys," he told them.


	6. Chapter 6

He awoke to the quiet and the dark.

It only took a second for Kaldur's eyes to adjust, and what he saw was the infirmary cloaked in midnight. He felt tired, drained, and a burn was still within him. A painful burn that danced upon his nerves and made him wince. He twitched his hand, rolled his head, gouging how much pain his body was in and how much he could move.

Not a lot of pain, but still enough that he couldn't exert himself to even walk yet.

Beside him, Megan lay on the adjacent cot, tubes and wires stuck to her body. Small pads with connecting, thin wires were attached to her head, neck, and chest. A tiny needle stuck out of her arm, taped on and then padded. She looked like she was at peace. Her chest rose and fell evenly as she took deep breaths.

Beyond her, sitting near the monitors dressed in a loose nightgown, sat Artemis.

Kaldur could only see the back side of her. She faced the glowing screens, her body awash in blue light. Her fingers were slowly typing over a digital keyboard, and every now and then Kaldur could see her yawn. Her shoulders rose and her hands still until it had passed, then she went back to her slow typing, blinking as her eyes burned.

Tears had glossed over her eyes, trying to keep them comfortable in the light of the digital screens and the hours they had spent open.

Artemis reached beside her, gripping a small white mug and lifting it to her lips. She drank the coffee eagerly, downing the last of it. It was lukewarm, but she didn't care. She would be drinking iced coffee if she could. Even with the door to the infirmary closed and the air conditioner running, it was still sweltering.

She sighed and yawned once more.

Instinctively, she reached for the coffee mug again, raising it to her lips. When she tipped it and was met with only dryness, she remembered that she had run out. Disappointed, she set it back down upon the countertop.

"Artemis," Kaldur called out gently.

Artemis' hands stilled. Kaldur thought that she would turn around and look at him, acknowledge that he was awake, but she only shook her head and continued working once more. Artemis thought that she had heard something, but then convinced herself that it was only her imagination.

"Artemis," Kaldur called out again, louder this time.

Now, Artemis did turn around. Kaldur could see that her eyes were bloodshot, and her skin was sallow. She looked weak, frail somehow. He didn't know that she had lost a lot of blood and put new in her once more. He didn't know that she had been awake for too long, but could only assume so by the bags under her eyes. He didn't know that she had worked her body too much, had pushed herself to the point of fainting, and still carried on.

Kaldur knew none of this. He could only surmise what she had gone through by the physique of her body.

Artemis gave a small smile that looked like it hurt, not even reaching all the way to her eyes.

"You're awake," she stated.

Artemis sat on a chair, and she leaned back while she looked at him. Kaldur thought that she was about to fall asleep; she sat looking at him quietly while her body became still and stiller. Artemis needed sleep, but she couldn't sleep. Not yet.

Kaldur groaned as he forced his body to sit up. He noticed now that he had all the same wires and tubes attached to his body as Megan had to hers. His eyes cast downward and he saw the needle taped onto his skin, the small bit of stainless steel poking out of the dark brown. His shirt was pulled down, so that the pad stuck onto his could make contact.

"They're to help you get better," Artemis said sleepily, pointing to the equipment attached to Kaldur. "That, and the team—kinda—needed—to—analyze—you…" Her words were starting to slur. "I need more coffee," she thought aloud.

"What do you mean, analyze?" Kaldur questioned.

Artemis ran a hand through her hair, pushing the blonde strands back out of her face.

"Robin said that we—okay, well, first we needed you to get better, so we attached all those things to you. And, hey, you got better. But Robin had this idea that some rare type of toxin was behind this—one that we hadn't heard of before—so we decided to take a couple of DNA samples from you two."

"Really?" If Kaldur had more energy, he would have sounded more surprised.

"Yeah, I know," Artemis said, blushing a little and rubbing a hand across her face. "Kinda violates the whole body autonomy thing, doesn't it?"

"I don't blame you," Kaldur said. He groaned, clutching his arm as a wave of pain ran through him. Hid body leaned back down, pushing himself into the softness of the clinical cot as he waited for the sharp shooting pains to subside.

Artemis only looked on, a near blank stare in her eyes.

"That's a feeding tube," she said at last, once the pain had gone away. "You can take it out."

He ripped the tape off of himself, quickly so as not to prolong a slow pain, and then slid the needle out of his arm. Reaching up with a weak arm, he stopped the flow from the bag down the tube so that the fluid wouldn't spill everywhere. No since in wasting it.

Another yawn stretched across Artemis' face.

Turning back to the computers, she thought aloud, "Where is Wally? He was suppose to come back with coffee five minutes ago." She continued to grumble as the images upon the screen changed before her. Kaldur watched as the images changed. On side, bodily fluids and skin cells all being analyzed at the microscopic level; on the other, a jumble of tiny words that floated on by, accompanied by the occasional picture of cells under a microscope. Artemis kept scrolling and typing, her eyes scanning the lines with blurred vision.

"What are you doing?" Kaldur asked her.

"Analyzing the samples we took from you and Megan." She cringed again. "Sorry, again."

Kaldur shook his head, as if to say, No need to worry. As he did so, the pads and wires connected to him strained, giving small tapping sounds as they hit up against each other.

"Where is the rest of the team? Why is Megan not awake yet?" Kaldur asked after a long pause.

"Everyone's out doing something. Since Connor left, a bunch of people are out looking for him—including Sphere and Wolf. Robin is downstairs analyzing everything I'm sending to him, to crossmatch and stuff like that. Wally's in the kitchen—supposedly getting more coffee to keep us all awake but I just know he's doing something else."

"The Leaguers?"

"Out doing their own thing. Batman's here…I think. Or Robin's talking to Batman. Or Batman's on his way here…or he was here and he left… Look, I don't know!" She finished with a agonized groan.

"So you are…analyzing our cells here?" Kaldur's mind was still watery, fogged over and not able to follow as well as it should have. He was no detective, but being able to put the pieces together was a natural ability to him. Right now, he couldn't really put anything together. He needed it spelled out.

"Yeah. Wally and I were in here taking some samples from you two—again, really sorry—and then putting them under the microscope and all that. We—well, I right now, thanks-a-lot Wally—transferred the information onto here, and started pulling up toxin files, comparing them, yaddah yaddah yaddah. And, uh, Robin's downstairs with the other tech doing what he does best."

"I think I understand," Kaldur said. Everything was still hazy to him. "And…Megan?"

"I don't know why she hasn't waken up yet. Maybe they just sleep longer on Mars." Would make sense, Artemis thought. Days on Mars laster longer than days on Earth; that much she remembered from science class.

"I see," was all he said before he closed his eyes once more.

Kaldur thought of just falling back asleep, letting his body recover some more. He could use the sleep, for everything was out of sorts. The world spun, and his body was fatigued to the point where sitting upright drained him. His eyes burned so that blinking hurt him. The feeding tube was still right by him, if he wanted to put it in. But he didn't. He wanted morphine, or something that could kill the pain and put him to sleep. Though he wanted morphine, he did not ask for it. It wouldn't be right to fill himself with morphine, or so he thought. Duty was his first thought, comfort second.

Though it was coming as a close second.

"Kaldur," Artemis said, finally standing up and walking away from the computers. She walked over next to his cot, standing over him and looking down into his eyes. Kaldur's eyes peeled open once more, taking in the sight of her. She was dressed in her pajamas; a dark grey nightgown with her hair down. He let his eyes roam down to her clothing, barely covering any of her body.

He knew it was late, and that she should be in bed asleep right now, but he couldn't help but wonder why she was dressed like this.

Nothing made sense.

"Kaldur," Artemis said again, this time sighing and sitting down onto the cot. She let her hand rest near his hip, and her eyes slowly droop.

"Yes?"

"If you could have seen that fight…" she mused. A small smile graced her face, this time a genuine one. She closed her eyes and let herself drift back into the memories. "It was awesome. You should have seen Poison Ivy's face when she finally surrendered!"

Her smile was mirrored on Kaldur's face.

"I am sure that it was priceless."

"Beyond!" Artemis said, her eyes blinking once more. "It was—it was—it was like…"

She gave up, not knowing how else to describe it. Her smile fell and she shook her head. The faint scent of cooking food wafted through the thin slit of closed door. So Wally was cooking something in the kitchen.

Without thinking, Artemis reached forward and intertwined her fingers with his. Kaldur gave her hand a soft squeeze before letting it rest. It felt nice, to hold her hand, even under the circumstances. Her gaze drifted over to his eyes, which looked slightly drugged. His pupils were large, partly because of the dark as well, and his thin, pale irises caught the blue of the fading computer screens. She hadn't turned them off, but they dulled if they weren't in use.

Artemis felt the sudden urge to lean over him, and press a kiss against his lips.

Because of the mood, of dark lighting and an intimate atmosphere, and the closeness between them, and even the fact she was tired. Because of all this, she did.

Bending over him, Artemis let her lips ghost along his, not yet kissing him. Her eyes were dark with shadows, and she felt warm. Kaldur parted his lips, wanting her. Artemis let her lips touch his, softly, as if testing to see how it was. Breaking apart again, she looked at him in wonder before closing the space once more, letting the kiss linger on.

He hand crept upward, and she rested it on his chest as they kissed. The faint beat of his heart touched her fingertips.

With small gasps, the two broke apart once more. Still, the impact of what they had done didn't fully hit them. She had wanted to kiss him, and him to kiss her, for a long time. They had thought about it, many times before, so who was to say this wasn't just another dream?

Their minds were in a dreamlike state, anyways.

Kaldur searched her eyes, as if he could decipher the truth just by looking at them. Maybe he could find the realness behind this, and break the spell that this moment had put upon them. But he could only see Artemis, for all the she was, and all that she was to him. It couldn't be a dream, he concluded, for she was far too real this time.

Bloodshot eyes and dark under eye circles and the smell of coffee on her breath. Her disheveled hair and shaking arms, unable to handle the strain of being awake. It wasn't romantic, and it wasn't perfect, but it was their's.

He pressed another kiss to her lips, wanting to taste the imperfection again.

It wasn't a dream; it was real.

Artemis let her single hand travel along his body, her fingertips gently trailing along his skin and making the heat rise in his body. Everywhere she had touched seemed to burn, the feeling of her fingers lingering on the nerves. From his chest, to where she rubbed soft circles around the nipples, and across to his shoulder.

Shivers tingled through him when she pressed her thumb to his neck. A small moan escaped his lips as goosebumps arose on the skin. She let her fingers delicately slide down the side of his neck, then dip into the crook. Just the smallest touch on the collarbone created a feeling so heavenly that he couldn't help but want more.

Artemis wanted more. The taste of his lips wasn't enough. The touch of his skin hinted for something more, something that she craved for. Kaldur's body seemed to be beckoning for her, and Artemis wanted to give into that call.

So she let her hands roam, feeling his skin. The warm touch of the flesh, with the muscles twitching underneath, and his blood rushing to his heart and back around his body. She breathed in deep, excitement starting to overcome her. Her eyes closed once more as she leaned into him, and she felt a single arm cross over her back. The arm that hadn't had the needle in it. But as their kisses lingered, he found the will to wrap that one around her too.

The next part happened just like the dreams promised that it would. A blur of not thinking but wanting, of knowing what the other was wanting, knowing they wanted the same. Knowing what was going to happen. The dreams had promised that they would be together, but not like this.

Artemis crawled onto the cot with him, straddling him with her legs. She pressed herself down on him, moving her hips slowly, until she leaned down onto him, her lips on his and her hands near his neck. Kaldur felt along her spine, running his fingers up and down the length, making her arch her back ever so slightly. It felt like the most natural thing in the world, something he had done a hundred times.

He slid his hands further down, resting on her hips before sneaking underneath the hem of the plain cotton nightgown, and began pulling it up off of her. Up her thighs, up her hips, up her back, and then to her shoulders. Artemis leaned back up and pulled the rest off of her, setting it down next to her.

She stayed like that, letting him take in the sight of her breasts.

She smiled just as he did, a moan of her own falling from her lips as his hands sought for their touch. He placed his hands on her breasts, stroking the soft, supple flesh with his fingers. His thumb rolled around her nipples before the other fingers slid from the top and down to the underside. Heat lingered where his touch had been, like fire webbing through her body.

After his hand slid beneath her breast, feeling the steady beating of her heart, Artemis sunk down onto him once more, locking him in another kiss.

Kaldur was beginning to harden.

Artemis ground herself against him, rocking back and forth on his body, making more heat rush down between his legs. She could feel him starting to press up against her, becoming erect with lust and need. She released another moan, aroused at his body pushing up against her.

Even with her fatigue, she quickened her pace. Not by much, but enough to keep them both on edge, receiving pleasure but not able to release it yet. When Kaldur was hard enough to make her whimper, she decided enough was enough.

Her cotton panties rested on top of the nightgown, and with deft hands, she began to pull Kaldur's pants down. Slowly, and gently, not wanting to rush this. Gradually, with each inch the fabric slid down, his hardened, thick shaft became exposed to her.

Lust appeared in her eyes.

With one final pull, his erection sprung free, standing straight in the air. As Artemis slid her hand around him, Kaldur moaned, and his body gave a small jump. She rubbed the skin up and down leisurely pace, as if they had all the time in the world. His hands found her hips in the dark once more, and he pulled her closer, meaning for her to straddle him. The wetness between her legs touched him, the heat traveling through him faster than light.

They held each other's hands, interlocking their fingers as Artemis sat down on him. She bit her lip, breathed in deeply. It was all that she had imagined it would be: personal, intimate, fulfilling. Artemis rocked her hips back and forth, as if doing anything too fast or too hard would break this moment. Wake them from the dream they weren't sure they were having.

Kaldur's hips rose and fell in time with hers. He gradually thrust in and out of her, gripping her hands tighter as the orgasmic sensations started in their bodies. Artemis kept her pace, long and drawn out, moving him just how she wanted him. Her eyes closed and her head tilted back slightly. She clenched her muscles around him, making him whimper once more. Back and forth, they moved against each other, slowly building themselves to their climax. It seemed so far off in the distance, as unreachable as the stars, but the closeness was there.

"Footsteps," Kaldur whispered, making them both open their eyes once more.

It was then that they remembered reality, of what was going on around them, of the situation they were in. Of Megan asleep on the cot right next to them. The curtain separating the beds from the rest of the room hadn't even been pulled shut.

"Probably Wally with the coffee," Artemis breathed, her voice so soft it was like a whisper on the breeze. Her eyes went from the door and back to him. This wasn't a dream, for they were being interrupted, not awakened. With a sorrowful look, she pulled herself off of him, standing upright on the floor once more. Artemis pulled on her panties and nightgown, then pulled up Kaldur's pants.

Neither of them had reached orgasm.

Just as Kaldur became soft enough not to arouse suspicion, Wally opened up the door. A fresh cup of coffee was in his hand, as well as a large plate of cheesy nachos. He slumped in through the doorway, his eyes watery and unseeing. Kaldur noticed that he was in his pajamas too.

"Here you go," he said in a flat voice.

Artemis took the coffee from his hand. It was lukewarm, just as the last cup had been. Since the coffeemaker only made steaming, almost scalding cups of hot coffee, he had decided to wait for it to cool before finally bringing it to her. The bitter taste lingered on her tongue even after she pulled the mug away from her lips.

"One for me, too," he added, gulping down the strong brew.

"Mmm," Artemis hummed, swigging the coffee once more before sitting down at the computer screen. As she sat, the pressure pushed up against her. She fidgeted, desperate to get off, to have the orgasm she didn't reach. She clenched her muscles again, squeezing her thighs together to relieve some of the burn, but it only made it stronger.

"So what'd'ya find?" Wally asked.

"I haven't found anything yet." Artemis tapped on the digital keyboard, bringing the screens back to life. It arrived on the same page she had left; Megan's blood cells on the left, a toxicology report in the middle, and a complete medical guide to rare plant toxins on the right. It was scanning the forty-fifth known toxin in the guide, trying to make a connection between the chemical on the pages and the possible, unseen chemical that was somewhere in their teammates' bodies.

"Why was the screen all dark? D'ya fall asleep?" he asked. Their was no malice in his question; it sounded like he just honestly wanted to know.

"Kaldur woke up," Artemis said, focusing her eyes upon the screen. "I was talking to him."

"Kaldur's up?" Wally said, his dull voice sounding alive once more. He spun, a weary smile on his face, to see his friend laying open-eyed on the cot, his hands crossed over himself and his face turned their way. He leaned up to acknowledge Wally.

"Dude!" Wally said, walking over to him. "Glad to see you awake again!"

"Good to be awake," Kadlur said, trying to lean up. The ache between his legs worsened, and he longed to get hard once more, to feel Artemis on him, relieving the tension that had built but never ended. He clenched his jaw.

"Hey, hey, easy man. Don't push it," Wally said, mistaking his pain. "We're still trying to get the virus out of you…we think…"

"I am alright," Kaldur told him. "But—I am worried Megan might not be."

She still slept soundly. Aside from her breathing, there was absolutely no movement to her. Her eyes didn't flutter or fidget, her fingers didn't twitch, her body hadn't moved even a little bit from the stick-straight position she lay in.

"She'll be okay," came Artemis' voice. "She has to be. Megan's strong; she'll be okay." Artemis rolled the chair away from the digital screens hovering before her and pushed herself next to Megan's bed. She looked down at her face, so calm and yet so disturbingly still. The pads and wires were still connected to her, and on a completely separate screen, they could see that she was dreaming. The brain activity suggested so.

But as for brain activity responding to the outside world; nothing.

Loud sounds didn't show up as having been heard, nor bright light filtering through her eyelids, nor even strong, potent smells and basic nerve sensory. But she dreamed.

What does she dream about? Kaldur wondered.

He wondered if maybe she dreamed of Mars, just as he dreamed often of Atlantis. Except, Megan had been desperate to come to Earth and leave Mars far behind her. Forget that it had even been a part of her life. If she did dream about Mars, then her dreams probably weren't pleasant. Even fond memories would have the emotional disturbance, eating away at her as the dream continued on and on.

Artemis yawned again.

"I am really tired," she told them all. She looked to Wally. "Could you do this for a few minutes?" she asked him, jabbing her thumb back at the monitors over her shoulder.

"Yeah, sure," Wally said.

"Great. I'm gonna go sleep," she said, and walked out of the infirmary.

Kaldur watched her go. He wondered if she really did plan on sleeping, or if she wanted to do something else before hand. The way she kept yawning suggested sleep.

__________________________________________________________________

It was near dawn when Megan finally woke.

Unlike Kaldur, she didn't awake to darkness and silence, but rather to the faint hum of some faraway sound and a pinkish hue that covered the room. Things were still fuzzy in her eyes. She blinked, trying to clear her vision, and slowly things started coming back into shape.

Kaldur was next to her, fast asleep and looking like a mess. Even as he slept, dark circles had formed underneath his eyes, and there was a bruise on his arm from where the needle had been. The patches of wires had been pulled off of him, and now hung limply on his pillow.

Megan closed her eyes again, wanting to drift back into her dream.

A dream where it was cold, and she could see the stars for millions of lightyears. Not a place where it was hot and humid, and daytime stole the stars from her. No heatwave could compare to the one that currently ravaged New England, so she wanted to go back. The cold and the stars and the rocky terrains and the thin atmosphere that sated her lungs. Everything that she had loved, and nothing that she hated.

Nothing she hated that she could remember.

As her head began to clear, she realized that the soft hum that she heard was a distant conversation. She pricked her ears, trying to hear better, then wondered if she really cared. It seemed like a lot of extra work, to hear something and make sense of what they were saying. Still, the conversation continued on, the soft hum of voices floating down the hallway and reaching the infirmary, so she decided to listen anyway. She thought maybe she could clear her head sooner if she made sense of the words drifting her way.

"Notch….record….I think…"

She could only catch snippets of the conversation.

Stringing the words together didn't really help her either, for no matter how she tried to rearrange the words, it never made any sense. She knew that if she really wanted to know, she would either have to get up and ask or establish the mental link between them once more. With the way her head was swimming, Megan didn't really feel like doing either of those things.

Her mind started to drift back into sleep once more, but she awoke fully when the door to the infirmary swung open.

Artemis stepped in, dressed in casual, civilian clothes, and looking beyond stressed.

Megan's eyes opened a sliver to watch her. Artemis walked in, shuffling her feet tiredly, and went to the counters once more. She reached to open up the cabinet, pulled a small orange bottle of pills off of one of the shelves, and downed it with water from the sink.

Completely ignoring Megan, Artemis spun and walked straight to Kaldur, who was now sitting upright on the cot. He clutched his head, groaning softly and saying something about his head.

"Here," she said, holding out the small cup of water and some of the pills. "It'll keep you awake. Plus it'll get rid of your headache—or so the bottle says."

Artemis glanced over at Megan, not really seeing her but thinking she had. Her mind wasn't the sharpest right now, not with her needing another several hours sleep. All Artemis saw was that she was laying down on the cot, her body relaxed, her head lulled back. She didn't think to say hello, for she did not know that Megan was awake, and didn't offer her any pills because she didn't look like she was in pain.

"Does this mean we're officially a couple?" Artemis whispered to him.

Megan's curiosity got the best of her, and she couldn't help but peak over at them. Kaldur sat in front of her, Artemis stood in front of him. But there was a shyness between the two of them that spoke of something intimate. Though she didn't know why, Megan's heart started to flutter as she imagined the two of them finally being together. She was picturing the two the them entangled together, their lips locked together and their hands everywhere. A smile crossed her face as she thought about the two of them.

"I…believe so…" Kaldur whispered back.

Megan couldn't hide the glee from her face as she heard this. They're finally together.


	7. Chapter 7

Megan pulled the last of the tubes and needles from her body, and wiped down the stickiness on her skin until there was no residue left. She kept testing it, putting a single green finger and pressing it down, then lifting it back up to see if it stuck.

Nothing.

Finally feeling freed from what looked, honestly, a bit scary to her, she bounded up off the cot, her normal upbeat self. She swayed a bit on her feet, dizziness spinning through her head and pounding through her veins, until finally she regained steady balance.

Artemis was swigging down the last remains of water from a paper cup, then turned and left, slumping down the hallway back into what was now her room. Megan left the room right after her, meaning to catch up with her.

"Hey, Artemis," she said cheerily. Megan made sure to keep her voice low while she spoke, so as not to worsen the headache that even she could feel. Artemis mumbled something, and kept on walking, her eyes glued down onto her feet.

"How are you feeling?" Megan asked her. Again, she only got a mumbling sound as an answer.

Megan was burning with questions, all of them bubbling up inside of her and ready to spill out in a flood of words. She wanted to ask Artemis so much, about her and about Kaldur, because she was just so happy and curious that she almost couldn't contain it.

But Artemis only schlepped along.

Already, her mind had entered one of the first stages of sleep. Artemis was walking along the hallway like a zombie, walking back to her room in a daze that she was trying to maneuver within. Just like a sleep-walker, forever stumbling forward even when their consciousness had turned off.

"I hope you're feeling okay. I don't know much about how your last mission went…"

Megan trailed off.

With a sigh, Megan stopped floating, setting her feet down gently on the floor. She walked with Artemis now, instead of flying right beside her. Megan knew that this wasn't the right time to pester Artemis with questions, or really even ask her to engage in any way with anything, but she just couldn't help it. It was all bubbling up from within her and simply begging to be spilt from her tongue and into the open air.

"So—uh—Artemis," Megan asked sheepishly.

"Mmmm?" Artemis moaned back.

"What did you mean when you asked Kaldur if you were officially a couple?" Megan asked, a small smile on her face. She had to fight to keep it small, lest it slide across her face entirely and make a fool of her.

Artemis stopped walking, and turned her head to look at Megan. She was too tired to properly address her shock, but Megan still saw her eyes widen.

"What—?" Artemis asked. Her tongue felt thick, and it made speaking difficult. "What did you hear?" she asked Megan.

"Hear?" Megan asked. "I was supposed to hear something? Did you guys kiss or something?!"

"Something..." Artemis said, drawing the word out long and slow.

Unable to stand there anymore, she returned to her mission of getting to her bedroom before falling asleep right there on the floor. It felt so far away, though Artemis knew within the logical part of her brain (the part that had almost completely dimmed) that it had to be getting closer with each step. That much drove her on even more. It had to keep her going, for it was all that mattered right now.

It was like she was crossing an entire desert just to get to some water.

They kissed! Megan thought excitedly. Just the thought of them kissing was enough to make her feel bright and warm inside. In her happiness, she hugged herself, squeezing her fingers into her arms.

"Comeoncomeoncomeon," Megan heard Artemis groaning, pushing the button to the door of her room. Or at least, trying to push the button into the door of her room. There wasn't any code to press in, for there was no need, but the single large button that slid the doors open and closed just wasn't responding to her.

Artemis knew that she wasn't pressing the button hard enough, or maybe she just wasn't pressing the button at all. She grit her teeth and cursed.

"Here," Megan said, reaching her hand across the space in front of her, "let me."

She pushed the button and the door slid open instantly. Artemis groaned and cursed again, hating that she hadn't even had the energy to open her own bedroom door. She stumbled into the room before simply collapsing down onto the bed, her knees giving out and her falling flat onto her face into the cushions and blankets.

The door closed behind the two of them, and Megan found herself walking around to get a better look at Artemis.

She looked uncomfortable in her current position, but she was asleep at least. Her face seemed blissful enough, now that her body was finally getting the replenishment that it needed. Her breaths were even and steady, and her body didn't even move a muscle.

Using her physic powers, Megan moved Artemis' body off of its stomach and onto her back, pulling the covers down and then pulling them back up against when Artemis was snuggly cradled within the sheets. She was wearing her pajamas anyways, so it was not like she had to unbuckle or untie anything.

Poor thing, Megan thought, watching Artemis' sleeping face. She must have been awake all night. Maybe she was kissing Kaldur all night…or maybe she was just doing her part in the mission.

Megan thought that she would find out more when Artemis awoke, all her logic and senses returned to normal, and that Artemis would tell her everything. She hoped anyway, but then again, Megan didn't think Artemis was the kiss-and-tell type of person. So she thought of maybe asking Kaldur. But he wasn't that way, either.

Megan sighed, accepting the fact that she may not know.

Since there was nothing to do, or so she assumed for no one had told her anything, she found herself a spot in one of the chairs by the wall, tucked into a small corner. She sat down on it and relaxed, leaning her head back. She watched Artemis as she slept, half-heartedly, all the while letting her mind roam. She couldn't sense anyone, but if she wanted to establish a mental link between all of them, she knew that they were close enough for her to do so.

But she didn't want to.

Her eyes drifted back down to the bruised green skin on her arm, where the needle had been almost all night long. She shuddered to think about it, since she really didn't like needles. But it was all said and done, Megan reminded herself. Nothing to worry about.

But still, she did worry.

Maybe not for herself, for the needles were the least of her worries. Now that she was sitting down and thinking more clearly, she remembered everything there was to remember about the mission and their latest assignment. Strings of words and phrases started coming back to her.

She could almost remember a faint memory of blood.

In her coma-like-sleep she could have dreamt the words, but it seemed not likely.

But shouldn't she have remembered other things?

"Hey, Megan? You in here, babe?" came Wally's voice through the steel of the door.

"Yeah," she said back to him.

She glanced at Artemis, wondering if they had woken her with their shouts, but she was still fast asleep in a deep sleep. Megan hurried to the door before Wally could say anymore, opening it quickly and then closing it behind her.

Wally stood in civilian clothes before her, chewing down on a chocolate bar. "Gotta get my blood sugar back up," he told her, holding the dessert up. "Lost a lot of blood last night."

"Please," Megan said, holding up her hand, "I don't want to hear about it."

"Oh. Okay," Wally said. He had been meaning to brag about it a little bit, but now he could see that it would have disturbed her. Was Megan squeamish around blood? he wondered. Sure, he didn't like it either; no one on the team did, but it didn't create a nervous reaction in them like it was now creating in her.

"Let's just talk about something else," Megan said, trying to keep her cheery attitude from earlier. "How's everyone doing? How'd the mission go? Anything I need to be brought up-to-date on?"

"Yeah," said Wally, pointing with his chocolate bar. "Dick's down in the main room doing a whole bunch of tests and whatnot. He's practically obsessive over his work right now. I tried to talk to him, and he just shooed me away." Wally shook his head and took another bite. "Like, ouch."

"What about Kaldur?" Megan asked.

"Should be fine. He woke up last night…"

"I thought so!" Megan said, able to feel a bit joyful once more.

"Although Connor's still missing…" Wally said. It brought Megan's uplifted thoughts to a dead end, and they crashed back down into a void somewhere inside of her. It was crushing, and she felt like she couldn't breathe for a moment.

"I thought that…" Megan shook her head. So she hadn't completely remembered.

It was somewhere in the back of her brain, that Connor had left the cave. Connor had left the cave…then she and Kaldur blacked out for some reason…so Connor must have…

Yeah, she could see it all fitting into place now.

"Hey, beautiful, don't worry," Wally said, placing his free hand on her shoulder. "People are out searching for him right now. Trust me, within the next few minutes, he'll be back, right along with Wolf and Sphere."

"They're missing too?" Megan asked.

"What? No! No. They just went out to go look for him, like everyone else. Well, not everyone else, but, you know…" Wally took another bite of the bar to keep himself from saying anything else stupid. "I'm going down with Dick," Wally said, and rushed off down the hallway.

Megan didn't follow, but only went back to the clinic.

Kaldur was just leaving, following Zatanna's instructions to head down to the main room. He sipped water from the same paper cups that Artemis had been drinking out of. He drank and drank, like he had lost blood all the same. Megan summed it up to his aquatic biology, why he needed so much water.

"I was just leaving," Kaldur said to her, putting the empty cup down. "I am needed in the main room."

"Yeah, I know," Megan said, nodding. Kaldur no longer wore his uniform, but had thrown on a pair of jeans and casual T-shirt that could almost make him pass as a civilian. So far, everyone Megan had seen had been dressed in normal clothes.

So she did the same, morphing her bio-organic clothes into something that'd normally be seen on the street.

"I just thought I'd see how you're doing," she said.

"I am doing better, thank you for asking."

"Mmhm," Megan hummed, nodding a bit. Kaldur noticed that a blush had darkened her skin, but he said nothing of it. He wasn't so rude as to point it out. "So…uh…can I ask you something?" Megan asked. Again, the curious bubbling feeling was welling up inside of her, and the bright sparks of happiness were overcoming her saddening thoughts.

"Of course, Megan. You can ask me anything," Kaldur said, not even having to think about the words. Since he knew that he was being delayed, he grabbed yet another cup of water, swigging down the sweet nectar until it felt like it filled him completely.

"Did you and Artemis become a couple last night?" she asked.

Kaldur stopped drinking, and pulled the cup away from his lips. A similar expression passed over his face just like it had passed over Artemis' face only minutes ago. The expression of shock, with his eyes widening and jaw slacking, mixed in with a deep tiredness.

"I believe so," he answered, after nearly a minute had ticked by.

"What'd you two do? Did you kiss?"

"Why are you so curious?" Kaldur asked her. He really didn't want to have this conversation, but he didn't know how to tell Megan so without hurting her feelings.

"Well, I just…heard…"

"What did you hear?" Kaldur asked. Again, the sudden shock went into his body, his eyes widening.

"Only that you two kissed," Megan said with a grin.

"That is all you heard?" Kaldur asked, relaxing a little.

"Yeah. Why? What else happened?" Megan asked. She leaned in a little, wanting to hear every word that Kaldur might say, to see the expression on his face better.

"You guys coming or not?" came the voice of Zatanna.

Never had Kaldur thought that he would appreciate an interruption as much as he did right now. He spun around, saw Zatanna standing down the hallway, and gave her a nod. "Yes, we're coming now," Kaldur said. He tossed the paper cup into the wastebasket and finally made his way down into the main room, where there was plenty of chaos to send his head reeling into a migraine.

"Where's Artemis?" Kaldur asked.

"Asleep, in her room," Wally answered. Dark bags were under his eyes, and the candy bar was half-left in the wrapper since he couldn't really finish it. "We were all up way late last night. I don't blame her for getting some sleep."

Wally turned his attention to Dick.

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to get some well-needed rest."

Dick waved him off. Behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses, Wally could make out the redness in his eyes, the purple bruises beneath his eyes, and the droop of his lids as his brain screamed for some form of rest. But Dick was persistent; he wouldn't rest, not until he had finally cracked whatever mystery lay hidden within the mess of medical pages and battle scars.

"Might actually kill you not to get some rest," Wally mumbled under his breath, but Megan heard his comment all the same.

"Connor?" Kaldur asked, his eyes still looking around the room, taking note of all the present and missing teammates.

"Missing," Megan said. The word sounded raspy on her voice, and Kaldur put a hand upon her shoulder, trying to make her feel better. Comforted, for he had heard the waver in her voice. One that threatened tears.

"Raquel?" Kaldur asked.

"Wow, you must be really out of it!" Wally said, clearly surprised. "Raquel went off about a month ago with Icon to some place out in space or something like that, and she hasn't been back since." He reached to take another bite of the candy bar before placing it back down again, a look of distaste on his face.

"Oh," was all Kaldur could say.

Of course. How could he have forgotten that? He put a hand to his head, as if that would help him return to normal. Again, the eerie feeling that something had disturbed his brain ate away at him. Something was off, and he couldn't place it.

"He's probably just still groggy from the morphine," Dick said, still not tearing his eyes away from the brightly glowing screens.

"Sure," Zatanna agreed. Sure. They'd believe that for now.

Kaldur wanted to believe, but there was still that itch within the back of his mind.

"So what have you found?" Kaldur asked, stepping up beside Dick. He looked down at the computer screens along with him, his eyes scanning just as quickly, trying to take in the information as fast as he could process it. But it was difficult to, since his eyes were still slightly watery from the blackout.

"I've found—" Dick pressed several buttons on the screen, "this!"

Bright images appeared before them all, appearing in the air above them. They all angled their heads up to get a better view. DNA and RNA strands were spiraling along the sides of the screen, with microscopic photos and lengthy medical and doctoral essays flooded the center.

"What is it?" Wally asked.

"This," he tapped the screen to enlarge images as he spoke, "is the same of blood that we took from those who were so kind to donate a bit before we put the needle in—you know who you are—and this is a picture of a blood sample taken from someone who had been poisoned with a special type of toxin that has only been found along the Eastern coast. It's rare, nearly to the point of extinction, which means that Poison Ivy would be swooping in trying to save it, obviously."

Dick paused, letting his words sink in.

Then he continued,

"Ivy's done a lot of experimental work with roses before, but the roses we encountered last night were a completely new genetic modification of roses. So they don't have a name…"

"Hey, how's 'bout this? Bleeding roses? Eh?" Wally asked.

He glanced around the room, to each face, to see if they had gotten the joke. They'd gotten the joke, they just didn't think it was funny. When Wally saw no one laughing or smiling, only giving him a stone-faced and indifferent look, he sulked back down into the stool he was sitting on. With one final, angry bite, Wally finished the candy bar.

"That's a good a name for them as any other," Dick said.

Wally cracked a smile.

"So anyway, these roses were filled with a toxin called toxicodendron rosa anigoma, a special type of thing that Ivy seemed to have created in one of her labs in or somewhere or something…" Dick yawned, no longer able to suppress his exhaustion. It was spreading across his brain like warming, numbing fingers gently stroking his mind. His eyes kept drooping down, and sounds were starting to sound far off, like he was underwater, listening to something that he should be able to hear.

"But what about the mosquitoes?" Megan asked him.

Kaldur's hand still rested on her shoulder, and it gave her comfort. She hadn't noticed a bubbling nervousness rising up inside of her until Kaldur gave her a small squeeze. It made the fear vanish.

"Well, we took blood from you and Kaldur, and Connor—a while back—of course from then to now it might have changed, so that would mean that the samples would be unclear…" Dick trailed off, mumbling something underneath his breath as the rest of them waited for him to stop.

"Dick," Zatanna said, finally stopping him.

She placed an ungloved hand on his, bringing him back to reality.

"Right," Dick said, "So, from the most recent blood samples, I found traces of toxicodendron abroviruses in both of you—and in Connor's too, but without him at the cave to…"

Zatanna squeezed his hand again, giving him a look that told him not to dwell on it, and Dick like the subject drop. There was no sense dwelling on it, Zatanna was telling him through the strong looks she was giving him. Finding him is more important right now, we'll do some tests later.

"So now what do we do?" Megan asked them all.

There was a long silence.

Wally and Dick and Zatanna all looked half-asleep, and they couldn't really answer. Dark bruises had formed under their eyes, and the sclera was shot through with little streaks of red. Their eyes looked sunken in, as if they had seen far too many things for one waking period.

"I guess…try to get it out of you…?" Dick guessed.

"Get it out?! Does that mean that it's still in there?!" Megan asked urgently. She rushed over to Dick, standing over him and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Please don't tell me that virus is still in there!"

"Megan," Kaldur said, his hand finding its way to her shoulder once more. Megan relaxed once more at his touch. But still, her head pounded. This information, the fact that she knew that stuff was still inside of her…she shuddered.

"I don't know if there are still trace amounts in you or not," Dick said calmly. "I assumed that the viruses would die off with proper medication and vaccination…but apparently the way we treated it didn't actually treat it."

"Heh," Wally scoffed.

"Then what were we doing with all that stuff attached up to us in the clinic?" Megan asked. She motioned towards her arms, gesturing about the needles and tubes and padding. She hated the thought of all that junk attached onto her.

"You were healing," Zatanna answered. "Look, the monitors and medicine and morphine and all that. It was checking your vitals, and repairing any damage done to your nervous system, and it was trying to cleanse your body of any viruses. Even I tried my hand at magicking the toxins out of you…"

"How'd that work out?" Wally asked with a slight chuckle.

Zatanna raised an eyebrow at him. She knew that he was only joking around, but he was still a firm disbeliever in magic, and she didn't really want to hear about his skepticisms right now.

"I think it worked out fine," Zatanna told him. "They are awake now, and they seem to be in fairly decent health."

"When Artemis wakes up, I'll fill her in on the details," Dick said, already closing down the illuminated screens. "Same with Connor; when he gets back, all the details. And if this thing still hasn't blown over by the time Raquel gets back, all the details…"

Dick pulled his sunglasses off of him, wiping the lenses clean on the thin fabric of his shirt. "I'm gonna…" he pointed vaguely, "go to bed." He finished with a deep sigh (that didn't fully sound like a groan or a moan) and slid off of the bar stool.

Megan noticed that he schlepped the same way Artemis had done.

He's been awake all this time, too, Megan remembered.

Looking around, at Zatanna and Wally, she could see they all had the same idea as well. They started off towards their rooms, or towards one of the vacant beds (since Wally didn't live here), with only a mumble of goodbye.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Kaldur had thought that it would be best for them all to get some rest. He found himself walking towards his own room, sometime after everyone had gone to bed while it was still daylight out. But he wasn't all that tired, despite waking up for Artemis in the middle of the night.

He had slept well, but he assumed that it would still be beneficial to catch up on whatever sleep he might still need.

It was best that way. It would give him plenty of energy for whatever was to come his way.

"Kaldur," he heard a voice call him.

He spun around, seeing Artemis standing behind him. She took slow steps towards him. He noticed that she was still in her pajamas, though she had pulled her hair back into a ponytail. A loose one, with many blonde strands uncaught and flying away from her face.

"Artemis," he returned.

She looked better. Not well-rested, not completely. But better. Her eyes weren't so bloodshot, and her body wasn't wavering when she stood. But there was still a darkness underneath her eyes, and a smile that could only stretch so wide, look so genuine.

Artemis offered him a soft smile.

"I would like to try again," she whispered.

Her eyes darted down to the floor, as though she were shy. But she wasn't shy; this was Artemis. Bold and brave, sometimes far too rash, often times far too raw. But now she looked down at her feet, a blush threatening on her cheeks where she put a hand up to cool her skin, and a doubt in her mind.

"Try…what we tried…last night?" he asked.

A blush ran across his face too.

The thought excited him, as well as kindled something else inside of him. It could have been the beginning of something that was love, or something that was slowly reaching to that far off space that was love. But right now, admist the excitement and the apprehension, was something warm inside of him. It felt nice.

"Yes," Artemis said, lifting her eyes towards his. "It's not like we have…we won't have any interruptions…"

Besides, she added quietly, I was so freaking close and then we just stopped!

"I would…like that," Kaldur said, and opened the door up into his room.

It wasn't as cool as it should have been, despite the fans running and the darkness that he normally kept the room submerged in when he wasn't around. There was a humidity in the air that crept its way into everything, this summer. Kaldur didn't mind the humidity; he actually quite enjoyed it.

The water in the air would soothe the gills on his neck, and make it easier for him to breathe. It made his mind clearer, his blood run faster, his body feel replenished.

But Artemis hated it. It made her clothes stick to her, and her hair matt up against her skin, and it was nearly impossible to feel fresh and clean. She took cooler and cooler showers, just trying to get the hot, stickiness off of her.

Kaldur walked towards her, and looped his arms around her, hugging her body to his.

Artemis pressed herself into him.

Their lips ghosted along each other's before they finally met in a kiss. It was not hot or greedy or rushed, but an almost innocent kiss that lasted only a few short seconds. The kiss broke apart, and they stayed close together for a moment, feeling each other's breath on their skin. It was the only heat that Artemis found herself liking.

They kissed again, this time not as innocently. They pressed hard together, trying to deepen the kiss, and make the sparks between them fly. It was working, slowly. Artemis hummed as she pulled Kaldur down further, deeper into the kiss. As the heat between them increased, and their hearts pounding in excitement, Kaldur slipped his tongue past the barriers of her lips.

He wasn't entirely sure how he liked it, to know the taste of her tongue.

But he decided he didn't mind.

When they finally broke apart once more, they still held onto each other, their palms barely touching each other. Artemis flicked her eyes back and forth, from Kaldur's face and onto the bed. Kaldur followed her eyes, looking behind him to the half-made bed.

Heat rushed down in between his legs, and he felt himself starting to harden.

Swallowing, he looked back at Artemis, who had the very same look on her face. A look that he knew well; excitement and anticipation and nervousness, all mixed together to create an emotion entirely of its own.

Artemis took Kaldur's hands in hers, and led him over to the bed. She sat down upon it, and pulled his body over hers. They kissed more as they lay down together on the cool sheets, Kaldur's body on top of hers.

Artemis parted her legs, so that she straddled him. She could feel his erection pressing against his pants, and up against her body. Waves of pleasure started to flow through her, and she grew wet underneath her panties.

Growing bolder, Artemis snaked her fingers beneath the hem of Kaldur's shirt, and started pulling it up, revealing his naked chest to her. He leaned up, lifting his arms so it could come of easier, and Artemis tossed it down onto the floor carelessly.

Artemis, after having taken off his shirt, ran her hands along his abs, feeling every inch of his skin. It was soft and warm beneath her hands, and her breath stilled as she touched it. Every intake of breath made his body push against hers, and Artemis kept growing wetter.

This is good, she though, rubbing her thighs together. She wanted to be wet enough, aroused enough, so that she could come easily. This wouldn't be like last time, where they were both left unsatisfied. That much she wanted to make sure of.

Sneaking her fingers lower, she slipped the tips of her fingers under the waistband of his pants.

Kaldur deepened the kiss, wanting to indulge in every little feeling of the moment.

He was already hard, and the way his erection was pressing up against her—all Artemis had to do was shift her legs slightly to rub up against it.

With deft fingers, she unsnapped the button, and started pulling his pants down off of his body. Only a few inches at a time, until the pants reached the backs of his knees and Kaldur pulled them off of him with one swift motion. His pants followed his shirt down onto the floor. He still wore underwear, but Artemis could see the silhouette of his cock pressed up against the thin fabric.

They went back to kissing.

Just as she had done with him, Kaldur took to peeling all of her clothes off agonizingly slow. He pressed kisses all along her body as she did so. Taking her nightgown off resulted in kisses along her stomach, on her breasts, on her neck and collarbones. Small moans and gasps left Artemis' lips as he peppered her entire body with sweet kisses and soft little sucks that made her skin bright pink.

Artemis thought that he might kiss her, somewhere along her thighs or in between her legs, as he removed her panties. But he didn't.

She lifted her hips so he could pull them down, to her knees and then to her ankles. He kissed her calves, and her knees, but only venturing a few inches further along her thighs before focusing his attention back up to her neck and lips.

Artemis feasted on his mouth, drinking in each one of his kisses.

As they parted, they could see the desire and lust burning within each other's eyes. They knew how badly the other wanted this, and the foreplay had gone on long enough. With swift movements, Artemis removed the last bits of his clothing, and pulled the fully naked Kaldur on top of her own nude body.

He was fully erect, and as they kissed once more, Artemis could feel his erection brushing up against her skin. Hard, up against her pelvis, the tip reaching her lower stomach. Her hand shot down in between them, and she began to stroke him. She began a slow, steady pace over him. Kaldur moaned as she did so, his lips ghosting against her collarbones as he surrendered to her touch.

Following her actions, Kaldur plunged two of his fingers inside of her.

Artemis cried out, her back arching off of the bed and her head tilting back as her eyes fluttered closed. She whispered his name, and it sounded more like a curse than a blessing. And Kaldur wanted to drown in that feeling, for it was the only thing that he could drown in. The sound of her voice, the feel of her body, the sight of her body reacting as he pleasured her, the feel of her body as she pleasured him.

Kaldur slid his fingers in and out of her, almost gently, working her up even more. She was wet enough that he would be able to penetrate her without problem, but he needed her…wanted her to be so aroused that she would come so easily and yet so hard that she couldn't help but scream his name.

A guilty smile came to his face as the thought about that.

He pressed his lips up against her breast, kissing her breasts, while his thumb slid back and forth over her clit. Artemis' hand quickened over his erection while he played with her. Around his fingers, she could feel her muscles constricting and releasing around him, already starting to mimic the contractions of orgasm.

When Artemis released him from her grip, he knew now was the time.

Holding himself in his hand, he positioned himself carefully in between her legs, and then slid into her easily. Artemis cried out again, her back arching off of the mattress, and her nails bit into the skin of his back and he pushed himself as deep inside her as he could.

He kept himself buried to the hilt in her for a moment, unsure of what to do next. They were both excited, beyond excited, but there was a nervous air that lay between them. Whatever ease they'd had the other night was gone now. He wasn't half asleep, and nor was she. But they tried to relax and to smile it off.

Artemis began pushing her body back and forth on the bed, taking matters into her own hands. She moaned, louder and louder, while she used his body to get herself off. All the while, she looked into his eyes, stroked her hands all over him, lovingly, wanting him to feel good.

Kaldur eventually lost his shyness, and began pistoning into her at a speed they both loved.

Artemis kept moaning and crying his name, and Kaldur buried his face into the crook of her neck, where he released his own sounds of pleasure. His voice vibrated inside of her, making her feeling tingly inside, and her nipples peaked.

She began toying with her clit as she got closer to orgasm. She rolled to bud around with her fingers, moving it back and forth, faster and faster until her speed matched Kaldur's thrusts. His hands were gripping onto her hips, and he could feel her right hand speeding over herself, the knuckles brushing up against his pelvis.

He peeled his eyes open to watch for a moment before he slid them closed once more, pushing his forehead into her neck once more.

"Kaldur," Artemis chanted, her voice both a moan and a mantra. "Kaldur, Kaldur, Kaldur, Kaldur'ahm…"

Why so formal? he thought, but then he realized that she had said his name just as her voice turned into a moan. Oh, that is why…

Artemis was louder than he had anticipated, but he loved it all the same. He wouldn't have it any other way, for her voice, the way she expressed herself, it was all so Artemis that he just couldn't picture anything else, or anyone else…

So it seemed to him as he neared his climax.

His hands were starting to bite into her skin as he felt himself about to come. Not wanting to bruise or hurt her, he released his grip from her body and clutched the sheets of his bed. He balled them up in his fists, and with several more deep, hard thrusts into Artemis' body, he came.

He pistoned in and out of her until he felt the final aftershocks leave him.

When he slowed, Artemis looked at him with disappointment in her eyes, etched across her face.

Kaldur knew, she had not come.

Nothing that can't be fixed, he thought. He gave her another smile, and kissed along her neck. He pushed his two fingers back inside of her, pumping them in and out of her. Artemis closed her eyes once more, surrendering to the feeling. She was so close to climax, so near that she could almost taste it. It felt wonderful, to have his fingers inside of her, but after the thickness of his cock had filled her, if felt almost insubstantial. Her fingers were moving faster over her, and with Kaldur's lips ghosting along her neck and pressing wet kisses against her most sensitive parts, and his fingers hooking and thrusting inside of her, she finally came right along with him.

Her moans increased to their climax, and the whole room was filled with her cries of pleasure as she rode out her orgasm on his fingers.

Her aftershocks made her body tremble and shake, and Kaldur kissed up and down along her breasts while she did, which only made her tremble harder. When all had stopped, she opened her eyes again, looking back up at Kaldur.

Tears were gleaming in the backs of her eyes.

"Wonderful," she said to him.

Could be better, though, she thought to herself.

"Next time, I'll make sure you come first," he promised her, laying his head down beside hers. The two of them could have spent all day in bed together, relaxed in their post-orgasm state, if it hadn't been for their lives outside of each other. But until then, Kaldur cuddled close to her body, snaking a single arm around her and pulling her closer.

Their noses brushed together before they kissed again. They weren't greedy or hungry or desperate like they had been before, but slow and gentle and patient.

Has his eyes always been so dark? Artemis wondered as she stared into his face.

Normally his eyes looked so pale, like there was hardly any color at all to them. But now as she laid close to him in his bed, she realized just how wrong she had been. There were colors everywhere in his eyes; they were light, pale colors of course, but there was so much to see within them. Amongst all the pale blues and greens and golds mixing together were all his desires and fears and thoughts.

Everything that made him Kaldur. Everything that made him Kaldur'ahm.

______________________________________________________________________________

Megan's voice rang in their heads.

It was what finally broke the sweet, silent moment between the two of them.

They had expected as much, for something like this to happen. They were right in the middle of a mission, and Megan was most likely the person to call for them. Mentally, of course. Megan's voice spoke to them as Artemis and Kaldur lay in bed together, their hands lazily exploring each other's bodies.

Guys, you'll never guess who's back! said Megan telepathically.

"She's right there, because I'm not gonna guess," Artemis said. Kaldur cracked a smile.

Come on, everyone! Wake up, wake up, wake up!

With Megan's pleading, oddly strong, the two of them rolled out of bed together.

Kaldur swayed on his feet a bit, but Artemis helped to steady him. With their balance regained, they pulled their clothes up off the floor, helping each other to get dressed.

"Do we look okay?" Kaldur asked her, as Artemis' fingers deftly buttoned the fly on his pants.

"Yeah, of course. Why?" she asked, as he slid his hands over her hair.

"Because…I think it might be obvious to the rest of our teammates what we were doing," Kaldur replied. His fingers kept brushing through her hair as he tried to make it look like nothing had happened. Like she had only come in to talk to him, if anyone asked why they were together.

"Oh," Artemis said.

That was a good point.

She didn't really want anyone to know, either. Not yet. Dick and Zatanna might have been completely open and honest around others about them dating, and possibly going to bed together, but not everyone on the team was like that.

"Perfect," Kaldur said, when Artemis' hair was all in place.

Her skin was still slightly flushed from orgasm, and her body smelled of sex and release, and there was an easiness on her face that hadn't been there earlier. But he believed that no one would notice. Especially if everyone else was as tired as they had been only an hour ago.

Artemis pulled Kaldur's shirt back onto him, smoothing out the wrinkles.

They kissed once more, before Kaldur opened up the door and walked out.

Artemis waited a minute, then walked out after him.

No one was around to see them, but it was a precaution they both felt like they needed to take.

Once more, Megan's voice rang in their minds; Come on, guys! Get down here! WALLY! Wake up!

I'm awake, I'm awake… they heard Wally's mental voice say back to her.

Slowly, the entire team all drifted into the main room, where Megan stood, swaying only slightly on her feet. Artemis looked around at her teammates as they all came into the room. Wally looked exhausted, and worse for wear, with bags under his eyes and a glazed over look that made him seem oblivious, and his hair so mussed and tangled that it looked like he'd been electrocuted. Dick seemed just as Wally did, but he was more relaxed, now that he'd gotten some sleep. His eyes were hazy, beneath the sunglasses that he'd put on last minute, but otherwise he was his usual alert, observant self. Zatanna looked refreshed for the most part, if it wasn't for a demeanor so calm it looked like she was falling asleep where she stood; the same was true of Megan. Kaldur and she probably looked a bit odd, with their fatigue considerably different from the fatigue of the rest of them, but no one said anything.

It was if Kaldur had thought; no one would notice.

"So who we here for?" Wally asked Megan. There was a tiredness to his voice, too.

They were all expecting for her to say Connor. That he'd been found by someone, that he was okay and recovering, and that he was being brought back to the Cave to reunite with them all and get some medicine and sleep.

But that was not the case.

Someone else other than Connor entered. Someone they hadn't expected to see for another several weeks.


	8. Chapter 8

"Raquel!" Megan shrieked, and flew over to hug her.

"Nice to see you, too, Megan," Raquel returned, patting her awkwardly on the back. As Megan hugged her, she had lifted her off of her feet, and now the two of them simply floated over the ground. Raquel looked awkward hovering in the air while wrapped up in Megan's arms, and she was trying to find a way to politely tell her to put her the hell down and let her walk on her own two feet. At last, she finally managed, "Could you put me down now, please?"

"Wha—? Oh! Yeah! Sure!"

"It is awfully good to see you, Raquel," Wally said to her.

"Agreed," said Kaldur.

Everyone else made sounds of agreement, and gave her their own greetings. The whole team—almost the whole team—swarmed around their returned teammate, patting her on the shoulder and giving smiles and greetings aplenty.

"Thanks, thanks," Raquel said, trying to make the torrent of words stop. She looked around at everyone, and her smile faded.

"Something wrong?" Kaldur asked her, noticing her change of expression.

"Yeah," she said bluntly, looking around at all of them again. She made eye contact with each, holding their gaze for a second or two, before continuing on. "What's wrong with you guys?" she asked them all.

"What'd'ya mean?" Wally asked her.

He looked down at himself to see if he could find what she was talking about, but he saw nothing wrong or out of place. He even checked over his clothes for stains. No blood stains; no mustard stains. Nothing that he could see. So what was wrong?

"You all look kinda…sallow," Raquel replied.

All of them turned down their eyes and held up their arms, examining their skin. They supposed that it didn't look all that healthy, but it couldn't look that bad. Or so they thought.

"I don't see it," Zatanna said to Raquel, putting her arms back down by her side.

"How can you not?" Raquel asked her, stepping up and holding her arm back up. Along the underside of Zatanna's arm, Raquel traced the lines of blue veins with her eyes, and the faded pattern of pinkish-red discoloration nearly invisible on the tinted skin. Beyond that, Zatanna's skin seemed so lackluster, and Raquel pressed her thumb down on her skin. Pulling her thumb away, Zatanna's skin rebounded quickly.

She's hydrated, Raquel concluded. So that wasn't it. And what about the others?

"Dick, let me see your eyes!" she said, spinning around to face Dick.

A blush spread across his face, along with a flicker of agitation. But he still pushed his sunglasses up, displaying blue eyes that looked so dull. Raquel leaned in close to him, staring into his eyes.

"Look to the left," she said, "without moving your head."

Dick did so, then looked to the right just the same.

"Your eyes are all bloodshot. Your irises look gray, your pupils are dilated, your sclera has a faint yellow tinge to it…"

She leaned back up. "I must have missed something while I was off-world," Raquel said with a small smirk. But it couldn't hide the worry that was just underneath it; everyone could see it, plain as day. "So what's happened? What mission's got you all looking like a health hazard?"

"Health hazard is a bit strong," Wally mumbled beneath his breath.

Kaldur filled her in on what they'd been through so far. But there were skips in his story, and the occasional repetition, and one or two things that didn't make sense or add up correctly. Raquel had only been back on Earth for about an hour and she already knew that something was effecting their brains.

Kaldur's train of thought seemed off; like he wasn't really himself.

"Okay…" Raquel said when he'd finished his story. "So Superboy's gone missing, and you guys aren't all out looking for him?"

"Actually, we were just planning on leaving," Kaldur told her.

Dick turned to look at him quizzically. He'd said nothing about them going out right now. But still, he'd assumed that Kaldur was planning on giving the order eventually. Within the next few minutes at least, if Raquel had not showed up here today. Dick said nothing, and downcast his eyes, staring at his feet. If anyone noticed his reaction, they didn't say anything. Dick noticed from the sides of his eyes, only Kaldur seemed to notice this. They way he side-eyed him, pursed his lips, moved his head. He knew what he'd had been thinking.

"I'll help," Raquel said definitively. "He's my teammate, too. And I think that I can help you get to him faster than the other Leaguers. While I was off-world, Ikon and I discovered some alien technology that seems to be safe to use. It's worked wonderfully for us, and it can track almost anyone down. Besides, I need some time to catch up with you guys. You wouldn't believe what else Ikon and I have uncovered!"

"I'm sure it'll be an interesting story," Wally put in.

"It's Raquel! Of course it's gonna be an interesting story!" Megan replied, turning to face Wally.

Her voice was light and eager; like she was the only one who was healthy and whole out of everyone in the cave. Wally was almost jealous of it, and he found himself a bit too annoyed but such a bright voice invading his sleep-needing ears. But he pushed the thought from his mind, and thought no more of it.

"Glad to hear it," Wally replied back.

Megan spun back around, as if he'd never said anything at all.

"You simply have to tell us everything!" she stated, clapping her hands together in glee. "We want to hear everything!"

"Yeah…sure," Raquel returned. "I'd be glad to…but…Superboy?"

"Now that we are all…rested enough…he must be our first priority," Kaldur said. "She can tell us her stories later."

"Agreed."

"One thing though," Raquel added. "I'm gonna need some of his DNA. Y'know, to make the thing work." She paused, and looked around at the faces before her. "Anyone have anything?"

"I believe we may have some of his blood," Kaldur said. Raquel didn't even question how.

___________________________________________________________

Raquel had her own ship. It had poor camouflaging abilities, but it was completely silent. If no one was looking for it, it could fly by completely undetected.

"And you're completely sure Lex Luthor doesn't have Superboy?" Raquel asked into the intercom.

"Positive," Megan said on the other side.

"Batman went through every possible lead there was. He scoped out Lex's work for hours on end before he concluded that he wasn't there," Robin added in. "He's not there. Can't be."

"Oh, let me guess," came Kid Flash's voice, chiming into the conversation. "You're going to ask me if I have a really dumb idea. And I'll tell you what my dumb idea is, and then we'll follow said dumb idea. Right?" He sounded annoyed, which Robin could understand.

"Actually, no," Robin replied easily. "But if you have an idea you'd like to share, we're all ears."

"Well, I don't have one!" Kid Flash snapped.

"Okay, okay. Sorry," said Robin.

"Could you two please stop arguing?" Miss Martian asked them both. "We're on an important mission here. A mission to find Connor." She looked down at the ground, staring at her boots until the colors began to blur in front of her and all she saw was vague shapes. "I hope he's okay," she mumbled to herself.

The League-well, the League that had been searching for him-had searched high and low. All the obvious places. And all the less obvious places. Sphere had gone out. Wolf had gone out. And they knew him better than anyone, even her. Though she hated to admit it. And if Wally didn't have any ideas as to where he might be…

Then Megan began to think that maybe there would be no hope in finding him. That wherever Connor was, whatever had happened to him, he'd be able to make it back to the cave himself. But it seemed a dull idea, fading into the back of her mind like a memory of a dream that had turned back and wanted to be rid of her.

Oh, why had we waited so long? Megan thought.

"Wow! Megan!" Kid Flash screamed out, calling her out of her thoughts.

Looking up, she saw Kid Flash, Robin, and Zatanna clinging to the dashboard as the Bioship plunged down towards the Earth. She cried out with them, and gripped her nails into the orbs that helped her to fly it. She pulled them both up, steadying them out, and stopping them from falling straight down onto the hard, solid ground that had been rushing up to meet them. They were level again, but with consequence.

"The hell?" Kid Flash asked. He spun, clearly in a rage at her. "You can't just fall asleep while piloting this thing!" he shouted at her.

"Wally!" Zatanna said, turning to face him. "There is no reason to talk to her like that!"

"Oh no?" he shouted, spinning on her, his enraged eyes meeting hers.

Zatanna shrunk back down, suddenly afraid. She'd never seen him like this, and she didn't know how she should feel about this. This…just wasn't like him.

"Oh no? She almost killed us because she fell asleep at the wheel." Pause. "Or the orbs. Or whatever she uses to pilot this thing."

"Kid!" Robin but into the conversation. "Calm down! Would you?"

Kid Flash was just about to shout something angry at them all, but Kaldur's voice, clear as day, cut in before he could say a single word. Loud and angry, his voice came through, ringing in their ears for them all to hear.

"All of you! Enough!" he shouted into the intercom. "There will be no fighting on this mission! We have to stay focused. Whatever mishaps you may be having…DISCUSS IT LATER."

His voice cut off after that, leaving the four of them in the Bioship with an unearthly silence surrounding them. No one knew what to say, so they just all stared at one another, trying to read each other's facial expressions, waiting for someone to say something. Anything.

Kid Flash was the first to break the silence.

"I'm sorry," he stuttered. He sat back down into his chair, and pointedly looked down at the floor. His shoulders slumped forward, his shame apparent. "I don't know what came over me."

"It's okay," Miss Martian said after a moment, though she was still shaken by his outburst. "I…I guess I don't really know…what came over me either." She wondered if it were the right thing to say. Had she really fallen asleep at the controls?

"Hey, Megs?" Zatanna asked, leaning forward in her seat. "Where are we?"

"We should be on the border of Bludhaven. That was where I said we'd land…"

Miss Martian was suddenly curious herself. That was where they should be. From the windows outside, she could feel and see dark storm clouds gathering in the distance, and the edge of the endless sea stretching near them. From the buildings beneath them, it should have been Bludhaven. But she knew that Zatanna would have recognized the city.

"It doesn't look a lot like Bludhaven," Robin added.

Miss Martian became apprehensive. They should be over Bludhaven, or at least near the city in some way.

"Maybe we're just on the outskirts a bit too much," she said. "I'll steer us closer to the mainland, the—uh—body of the city… Is that what you call it?" She trailed off, not wanting to say anymore. A terrible feeling was blooming in her gut, traveling along her veins and straight into her heart, gripping into her muscles with fingers made of doubt.

"Megan…we're not in Bludhaven," Kid Flash said, confirming what they'd all been saying.

She pet the Bioship, her hand stroking the glowing orb of the controls, connecting her to the consciousness of the being, living and thinking under her fingertips. The two of them were connected, just the same way Connor was to Wolf and Sphere. Take me to Connor, girl, she thought to it. She knew that the ship wouldn't be able to, but it was what she thought. That maybe it could do it.

Stranger things had come true.

_______________________________________________________________________

"We've lost connection," Raquel told them.

A soft groan escaped all their throats at the news. Kaldur put a webbed hand up to his forehead, trying to ward off an incoming headache. The stress was getting to him, and he hadn't completely caught up on all the sleep that he needed. Raquel noticed this, but she said nothing. Artemis noticed too, and she reached out a hand for his shoulder before she thought better of it, and flinched it away.

"We had chosen the intercom over telepathic link in case they became out of range. Specifically for this purpose," he said, his fingers massaging his skin.

"Maybe they're too far away?" Artemis suggested.

Rocket shook her head, no. "That can't be. This spacecraft has a huge range on it; we should have been able to communicate with them no matter where they went."

"Maybe a malfunction, then?" Artemis offered once more.

Rocket thought for a moment. "That is more possible. I remember Ikon saying something about something being not completely up-to-date and not working properly. Or something like that. It is possible that it just got fried." She sighed in defeat. "Either way, we've lost communication." She turned to face Kaldur, who still had his hands to his head and his eyes out the window.

"Should we regroup?" she asked him.

Artemis and Rocket both waited for his response.

"No," he said at last.

Taking his hands down from his head, he stared directly out the window, not meeting any of their gazes. "They are all capable of whatever may happen to them. And for what we know, all that has happened is a malfunction with the communication system. We shouldn't throw the mission just for that."

Still, he would not meet their eyes.

Rocket and Artemis shook their heads, yes, to let them know that they would follow his word. The spacecraft flew on through the darkening sky, unseen by everyone. Lightning, soft as a nightlight, flicked in the billowing clouds far from them. The storm clouds were approaching from the East, in from the sea and pushing inland.

"Rocket," Kaldur said suddenly, "turn to the West."

Rocket spun the wheel of the craft, and only after she had reset their direction did she ask why.

"I feel that this storm is not a normal one," Kaldur responded, answering the questions that both teammates had on their tongues. "I can feel it…somehow. Maybe by sonar detection, or simple Atlantean magic…but something tells me that this storm is not normal, and might be much more than we bargained for. We should avoid it, I think."

Artemis thought for a moment.

"You think we should go back to the cave?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"No," Kaldur said, though he sounded unsure of himself. "I don't think the storm…I don't think we should hide. I don't think it's that…" He struggled to find the right words. Even Rocket had to turn her head to look at him, confused as to why he was having so much trouble talking. He normally didn't have any trouble finding the words…now he just seemed completely out of it.

Artemis thought maybe it was the earlier fever he had suffered, and the sleeplessness, all factoring into him being this way. She had never seen him tired before, so she really had nothing to compare to. She only had her gut to trust, and she knew by now that it was something to never trust.

"Dangerous?" Rocket suggested.

"Yes!" Kaldur said, the word finally coming to him. "I do not think that the storm is so dangerous that we need to return to the cave. Just stay on the borders, and I believe we should be fine."

Rocket and Artemis exchanged glances.

"Okay," Rocket said, steering the craft just the way he had suggested.

They bordered the oncoming storm as they flew, edging around the city as they did so, watching the outskirts and the incoming and out coming traffic on the roads. Rocket brought them in lower, as they neared a good landing site. It was well hidden, with rocky outcroppings and plenty of trees, and no roads or buildings came so far out to the location. Rocket lowered them down in the craft, bothering at the last moment to turn of the weak camouflaged mode. The hatch opened up, and the three of them sprung out, jumping from the metal hood and down to the ground.

Artemis and Kaldur wavered on their feet, almost about to fall over, but they gripped each other for support. They held tight to one another as the other fought to remain on their feet. In the end, Rocket had to help them both. Eventually the ground stopped flying and they were steadied once more.

"I know you guys said you didn't sleep well," Rocket commented, "but that was just downright weird."

Kaldur agreed with her on that point.

Rocket pulled the alien tech from her pocket, switching it on to produce a faint whirring sound and blinking lights, bright purple until they turned to green, signaling that it was now ready. Rocket turned the dials, until the map of their world showed up, the landscape printed out on the screen on the device she held.

"Do you have the blood sample?" Rocket asked Kaldur.

He nodded, and took the small vial and placed it in her hand. Rocket turned it over once, twice, and then nodded, concluding that it was good. It didn't take much blood for the alien tech to lock down on a specific DNA trace; only a couple of drops from the vial before it had locked onto Superboy.

"They should be in place, North of Bludhaven, right?" Artemis asked, turning northward and staring out at the land in front of them. "I mean, even if the intercom doesn't work…?"

"Should be," Rocket answered. "I mean, it's been long enough, and the Bioship is far faster than this old thing." Rocket would have given a kick to the metal exterior to prove her point, but her focus was direct on the tracers in front of her.

The sonars went wide across the screen, scanning the area for that specific piece of DNA that would locate Superboy. So far, everything came up blank. And the team opposite of them didn't seem to be in place yet; the two devices were supposed to work together to scan a much larger area, but only the one operated alone. Rocket didn't say anything about this, but she didn't have to. Artemis and Kaldur knew this well enough. They were working alone right now.

"Maybe they're still flying," Artemis mumbled.

"Maybe," Kaldur mumbled back.

Rocket just watched and waited. Waited for the screen to show something, anything. She didn't know much about this specific alien tech that she and Ikon had picked up, but she had trust in it. It had worked for them both before, in times when they needed it, and so far it hadn't lead her wrong. It worked like a charm, almost, and Rocket was sure that it was fully functional, even on planet Earth. So she had her eyes glued to the screen with the map of the Eastern United States and Southern Canada on it, and waited for Connor's DNA to pick up on screen.

After what seemed like a lifetime of waiting, a small dot appeared on the screen.

"I think we've got him!" Rocket exclaimed.


	9. Chapter 9

"Really?" Artemis asked, jumping forward and looking straight over Rocket's shoulder.

A small white dot showed on the screen, towards the West of them. Artemis assumed that was him, since the device in Rocket's hand worked much like a radar.

What is he doing out West? Artemis wondered.

"I would have thought he would have at least stayed within the cities," Artemis said. "As far as I know, where he's currently located, there's not a bit of human civilization. It's all nature."

It was a fairly large stretch of land that was reserved for nothing more than trees and animals and wildlife, stretching a good distance between Bludhaven in the north and all the way down to Maryland south from them. Made possible by the Wayne Foundation, of course.

"Some people like nature," Kaldur replied to her. "Helps them to calm down."

"I guess I can understand that," Artemis said, and gave him a small smile, which he returned. "But something doesn't make since," Artemis then added, directing her speech towards Rocket. "If Connor is just out in some forest, passed out or not, shouldn't someone else have found him by now. I mean, Wolf is pretty good at that tracking stuff, surely he…"

"Maybe he's already there," Rocket said. "I mean, have you seen him around?"

"Well…no…" Artemis stuttered.

"Besides…you're putting way too much faith in a wolf." Rocket chuckled before turning back around, facing the craft once more. Taking a few steps forward, she watched as the screen swiveled, and began heading in that direction. The hatch was still open, so she jumped high up in the air, assisted with her powers, and called back down to her two teammates, "You coming?"

Like she even had to ask.

_________________________________________________________________

In the end, it was the lone cry of a melancholy wolf that lead them to Connor. A stark cry against the gentle howl of the storm breezes that whipped through the trees and pushed the cooling air against their skin.

Artemis had to admit, at least to herself, that she was surprised. She hadn't expected Wolf to be anywhere near Connor, let alone sitting right beside him, his head laying on top of his chest with his paws protectively crossed over his arm.

Wolf growled when he heard the intruders approaching him and Connor, but the snarl eased away when he saw who was approaching.

Artemis jumped down from the hatch in the spacecraft, that still wore the poor camouflage. Her boots thudded against the soft, black soil, and a soft grunt escaped her lips when she landed. Her leg was still sore, where she had broken it, and she supposed that it was not completely done healing. Righting herself was easy, but there was still the strain of pain shooting up her leg when she moved.

Guessing that it had healed completely was just wishful thinking, Artemis thought.

She approached both Connor and Wolf slowly.

Like they were both wild animals instead of her friends. Wolf knew her, so he didn't snarl or growl or even give her a second glance when she began approaching. Still, her footsteps were timid as she neared them both, moving closer step by step. Each step was painful, since she had landed hard on her once-broken leg. But, hey, she had to figure that was a good sign, since it meant that she wasn't as threatening that way. If Wolf had perceived her as a threat…

Well, it wasn't like she couldn't win. But it was a fight she didn't really want to have.

Artemis reached her hand out, and put two fingers on the sides of Connor's neck. Wolf gave a single lick to Artemis' hand when she did; that was all Artemis needed to conclude that Wolf was okay with her being there.

Kaldur and Rocket walked up behind her, their footsteps soft and hesitant.

"Is he alive?" Rocket asked. The worry in her voice was clear.

Artemis nodded. "He's alive. He's got a steady heartbeat, and he's breathing." She thought for a moment, contemplating as she stared down into his face. She put a hand to his forehead, feeling his skin for a fever. "He's a little warm, though," Artemis added.

"The same disease that affected Miss Martian and me?" Kaldur asked her.

"I think it would be," Artemis automatically responded. "I mean, what else could it be?"

She removed her hand from Connor's forehead, and turned around to stare back at her two teammates. They both looked at her apprehensively, like she had all the answers to whatever questions were floating around in her head. Artemis narrowed her eyes at them; she found that she didn't like being looked at like that. Hated having such a burden placed on her, real or not.

"What?" she asked, her voice taut.

"Nothing," Rocket replied, putting her hands up defensively. "We're just looking at you."

Artemis pouted, and turned back around to face Connor. For some reason, she didn't believe that. Not by a long shot. Well, more than a long shot, since she could aim those. She placed her hand back on Connor's forehead, the back of her hand resting up against the hot flesh. He did have a fever, but then again, he was part Kryptonian. Weren't they supposed to react well to extremely high temperatures?

But better safe than sorry.

"We should probably get him back to the Cave," Artemis told them both.

Kaldur walked up beside her. Wolf didn't even blink. He put his hand on Connor's forehead, feeling what Artemis had felt, and confirming what she had said was true. He was burning up; he knew Kryptonian biologies better than Artemis did, and he knew that this wasn't normal. He was part human, with human vulnerabilities, too. This needed to be dealt with.

Rocket stepped up last, taking her own turn at putting her hand to his head. "Definitely hot," she added in. Then, "What did you say you guys were infected with?"

"You'd have to ask Robin," Kaldur said, turning to her. "He was the one who diagnosed us."

"Hey, speaking of Robin and the others, how are we gonna let them know that we found Connor?" Artemis asked. She had already began picking Connor up, slinging him over her shoulders and making towards the spacecraft with him. Wolf followed, walking right alongside her.

"I do not know exactly how," Kaldur answered her. "But our first—priority—is to…get back to the cave with Superboy. After that is accomplished…I guess…we can…wait…"

"Wait?!" Rocked shouted. "What do you mean wait? What's gotten into you? The Kaldur'ahm I know wouldn't sit around and wait…"

Kaldur shook his head at her words, trying to clear it. He knew he was not himself, he knew that this wasn't something that he would do, and something he should never do. But the haze of fog in his mind thickened, and he couldn't think right, couldn't find the right words, couldn't see the path ahead of him clearly. He didn't know what direction to take, which path to follow. He was blind in the white clouds that drifted in his brain, and he didn't know what to do about it. It swarmed around him, closing in on him at all sides. Rocket was right, he knew she was right; he could see that much. But everything else was fading.

"So Miss Martian and everyone else…?" Artemis was starting to ask, but just as she began to speak, they saw the distortion of the camouflaged Bioship near them, approaching fast through the air and then descending down towards them.

The camouflage mode faded, and out jumped Miss Martian, as ecstatic as ever. She bounded over to Artemis, a smile stretched wide across her face, and she hugged her tightly in her arms. Artemis groaned as she squeezed her, though she tried to her best to play off the sound as a cough. Miss Martian let her down, and looked straight into her eyes, tears forming around the edges.

"You found him!" she exclaimed, and made to hug Artemis again.

The only good thing about her squeezing Artemis so tightly was that she lifted her off the ground, and that at least helped her to rest her leg, if only for a moment. The ache and throb was still there, buried deep inside of her muscles and bones.

When Artemis was set back down, he heaved and audible and obvious sigh of relief.

"He was here the whole time?" Robin asked. He couldn't believe his eyes. Here Connor was, being found in a fairly large clearing, in almost broad daylight, unhidden from anything and anyone, and no one had seen him? Not until now? Hadn't at least one of the Leaguers flown by and seen someone lying on the ground here? Well, apparently, not, Robin thought.

He crossed his arms and sulked.

"Well, I guess I could sorta see how that's possible," Rocket said, trying to reassure him. "I mean, this is pretty far out West, and you wouldn't normally think that Connor would come out this far. So, really—"

"Can we not have this conversation now?!" Artemis snapped, making them all jump. The pain was shooting up her leg, and Connor was not helping it. "Superboy's in ill condition, and we need to get him back to the cave."

As am I, Artemis added silently. Hell, I might be in worse condition.

They all nodded silently, and thankfully, Miss Martian took Artemis' burden off her shoulders, and onto hers, right before they all flew back to the cave. Mission accomplished.

________________________________________________________________________

"You're bleeding again," Megan whispered, her voice full of distress.

"I know," Artemis said with a long and drawn out sigh. "I noticed back at the clearing. I think my clothes still have traces of that poison stuff Ivy gave us. So, y'know, I'm bleeding again…" She gave another pointed sigh.

Megan's hands traveled up and down her back, slick with the warm waters of the shower. The small red droplets that pooled on her skin were washed away immediately, swirling down the drain beneath her legs. She sat down on the cool tiles, with her head downcast, and her arms hugging her legs to her chest.

Megan sat behind her, crossed-legged, worried.

Blood wasn't exactly her favorite thing in the world, and seeing it bead up on Artemis' back, when it should have stopped by now… She shuddered.

"You okay, Megan?" Artemis asked her.

"Yeah," she returned, but her voice betrayed her. She wasn't okay. "I just hated seeing you this way," Megan admitted, knowing that she couldn't hide the truth from her friend. "I mean, I thought you guys had gotten that stuff out of your clothes. But now you're bleeding again and I…" she trailed off as her voice started to crack.

"Hey, hey," Artemis said, spinning around and taking Megan's hands in hers. "It's okay. I'm fine, really. Nothing to worry about. The most there is to do is to soak our clothes in hydrogen peroxide-again…" she groaned lightly, "…and wait a little while. This is nothing; you should have seen me when those poisons first got on us. I was covered with…"

Oops. Artemis realized that she shouldn't have said that. Way to make things worse, she chided herself. She grimaced when Megan's eyes started to flood with tears as the thought of a blood-soaked Artemis waltzed across her mind.

"At least we got Connor back!" Artemis tried. Feebly, for Megan still seemed far too downcast.

Way to fucking go, Artemis thought again, her voice bitter in her head.

"Yeah, that is one good thing," Megan agreed, though her voice was still timid. "So, that much of the mission is a success. Now all that's left to do is get this poison out of our bodies."

"Out of our—? What'd'ya mean?" Artemis asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

Megan's hands stopped on her back, their softs, caressing touches ending. Blood still welled up on her skin, flowing down her back in a small little lines of red and pink. Megan pointed to her skin as if that proved her point. Artemis looked down, at her stomach and breasts and chest; parts of her body that bled slightly, but not near as much as her back. And her legs, her thighs and hips and calves; tiny little pinpricks of blood barely noticeable cascading down her skin as the shower water washed it all away.

"That's only because that plant toxin is still on my clothes," Artemis said. "I don't think the poison is in my body."

"Well, maybe not your's, I suppose," Megan said quietly. "But I think it's in other's. Like Wally's, for example." She wrapped her arms around herself, hugging herself, as she thought back to the memory of him screaming at her on the Bioship.

"Wally? What'd he do?" Artemis asked, suddenly curious. She reached out and put a hand on Megan's shoulder.

"Screamed at me. Shouted at me. Something like that. He was so angry, and I've never seen him that way before. Clearly he isn't acting like himself…" She paused. "Right?"

"Right," Artemis reassured her. "Wally isn't one to really blow up at someone."

She gave Megan a bright smile, hoping that she would return it. Slowly at first, Megan pulled her lips back into a smile, timid and unsure, but eventually relaxed and natural in the end.

"Kaldur isn't acting normal either," Artemis told Megan.

Her smile lessened, which caused Artemis to chide herself mentally yet again. Way to go, you idiot.

"What's he like?" Megan asked.

"He's not himself. He's not acting like a leader. He's forgetful, he's…well, lost. For lack of a better word. He's just so out of it, like he doesn't even know which way is up." Artemis spun back around, and shook her head. She felt Megan's hands rest on her back. "Something's wrong with him. Obviously."

"Raquel is the only one of us who hasn't been exposed to whatever the Injustice League poisoned us with," Megan said. "If anyone is noticing a change in us, it would be her."

"And what about the other Leaguers. Y'know, our seniors or whatever. Why haven't they said anything about this?" Artemis' question hung in the air between them, unsure. Megan couldn't answer it, so she only licked her lips, and started running her hands up and down along Artemis' still-bleeding back, her fingers leaving shivers upon every place she touched. A soft sigh escaped her. Artemis dug her nails into her thighs, not caring about the blood crusting beneath the tips.

"I don't know," Megan finally said.

"Neither do I."


	10. Chapter 10

Seems a bit too convenient to me," Dick said, stepping out of the showers and wrapping a towel around his waist. "Not to mention suspicious. I mean, he's just laying out there in a forest and we find him without any other problems? Seems a bit odd." He yawned then, putting a hand up to his face.

Kaldur nodded along with him.

"Well, we've got him in recovery," Wally chimed in. "Maybe when he wakes up, he'll tell us about it."

"Pfft. Yeah, okay," Dick replied. "And maybe he'll single-handedly solve this heatwave crisis and purge the population of disease, too."

"It was just a thought," Wally shot back.

Kaldur listened to the two of them argue for a time, before he got sick of it. He deafened his ears to their spat, and turned the water down to a near freezing temperature. The handle slid down to the cold blue markings, and nearly icy water rained down on him. It felt good, like the deep oceans and nightly currents breezing by his skin.

Wally turned off his water, and went for a towel.

"Look, it's at least worth a shot!" he continued, speaking directly to Dick. "You've got a better idea?"

"Well, not at the moment…"

"But you just think that it will be better than mine? By default?" Wally asked, his voice hardening.

This caught Kaldur's attention; he spun around to watch the two of them, his ears focusing in on their conversation. He was able to pick up the aggression in Wally's voice.

"Wally! I didn't say that at all—" Dick defended.

"You didn't need to say it!" Wally told him, jabbing a finger at him. "By now, it's just expected. My ideas are worthless, your's are great, huh?!"

"Wally!" Dick yelled, unable to believe his ears. "You know that's—"

"I'm not sure what I know anymore!" Wally shouted, and then stormed out, tying the towel around his waist and pounding his feet against the floor.

Dick turned to look at Kaldur, who only stood still, observing the scene that had unfolded right before his eyes. Kaldur looked from the doorway where Wally had left and down to Dick, who stood looking at him with a puzzled look on his face.

"He…needs some time," Kaldur said, but he knew he was wrong. This wasn't a matter of time; this was a matter that went far beyond that.

_________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey beautifuls," Wally called out, causing Zatanna and Raquel to spin around.

"Oh, hey, Wally," Zatanna said back to him. "We didn't hear you come in."

Wally shrugged, as if to say, What can you do?

They both turned back around. Before them lay Connor, completely unconscious and laying upon a slab of metal and machinery. Technological sensors were running up and down his body, scanning him as he lay still. Wires were attached to his head and arms, and already they had taken a small blood sample from him, and it was spinning in its vial as Wally walked up to them. Once the plasma had been separated from the rest of the blood cells, then it would be processed and analyzed.

"I can't believe that he's really out of it," Wally commented. "I mean, out of all of us, you'd think he'd be the one constantly awake and fighting, right?" He turned to the two women, expecting them to respond. In some manner, at least. All he got was a nonchalant shrug from them both.

"He's been out for quite a while," Raquel mumbled. "At least a day. I can't believe you all let him sit out in the wilderness for that long! Hell, I can't believe you weren't all going mad searching for him!"

"We've been…out of it…" Zatanna said. She spun her head, but Raquel didn't return her stare. She was focused on Connor, lying upon the table, the machines and tech whirring around him as his body was examined. "All of us. I was passed out, for some time," Zatanna continued, spinning her head to face Connor once more.

No use trying to make eye contact with someone who wouldn't even look in your direction.

"After he wakes up, we'll still have to do a mental examination on him. Make sure he's…"

She was about to say, Still alright in the head, but decided against it.

"We know what you mean," said Wally right beside her.

Just then, the zeta tube sprung to live, with a bright flash of light and a whirring of the machine. The robotic voice announced Batman just as he appeared in front of them, scowling as always and looking ready to scold them for something they didn't know they'd done.

"How is he?" Batman asked them all, cutting straight to the chase.

"He'll be fine," Raquel replied hopefully. "Thanks to a bunch of space tech I got, we'll have him right in no time!"

"Space tech," Batman repeated. "That stuff can be dangerous, especially if it's from an unknown origin. You should probably verify the trustworthiness of your equipment before you use any of it on him." Batman swept his gaze from Raquel and back to Connor, lying still on the table before them all, his vitals printed above his head.

"Ikon already checked the tech out. It's completely trustworthy. No need to worry."

"Still, I'd feel better about all this if you double checked," Batman responded, not bothering to look at her.

Raquel huffed out a sigh, clearly annoyed by Batman's insistence. Everyone pretty much agreed that he was a pain in the ass sometimes, but Raquel already turned to go do what he asked, firing up a twin monitor to scan the tech through.

"You know, if Raquel says it's safe, it's safe," Wally snapped at Batman.

Both Zatanna and Raquel froze, unable to believe their ears. No one talked to Batman that way, not even the hardened criminals of Gotham (unless they wanted a concussion). Their eyes darted from Batman to Wally and back to Batman, waiting with horrid suspense as to what would happen.

"It needs to be checked," Batman said, his voice lowering even more and taking on a deadly tone.

Wally did not shrink down. "Why? Raquel said it was safe. Her word not good enough for you?" he spat out.

Batman's eyes narrowed behind the mask.

Raquel and Zatanna's hearts were pounding in their chests, thundering against their ribs, as they watched with bated breath as Wally continued to berate Batman. Wally argued more with him, which only made Batman look even more menacing.

"I know what I'm doing," Batman told him. "You'd do well to remember that."

"Oh bite me!" Wally shouted.

The tension was taut enough to snap in two, taut enough to cut with a knife. A long silence carried on after Wally snapped at him, and the two women were frightened of what Batman would do. They'd never seen Wally like this. Part of Raquel wanted to slap him, and the other to simply lock him in her space shuttle and watch it take off. Zatanna was too dumbfounded to think anything; only wait for this to be over.

"Go to the infirmary," Batman said then.

"Why?" Wally hissed.

"The poison must have affected you more than I originally thought. Go to the infirmary," Batman told him again. He leaned in close to Wally's face and growled, "I won't ask again."

Wally simply arched and eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"Do not make this complicated, Wally," Batman told him, the edge in his voice softening. "Your systems are clearly being affected right now; something's wrong with you." Wally still only stood in front of him, as if daring Batman to do anything to him. "Don't make me do this," Batman said, standing straight once more.

Wally shrugged.

Batman heaved a heavy sigh, and grabbed Wally by the arms, nearly having to drag him to the infirmary. Zatanna and Raquel watched quietly.

"That was weird," Zatanna said after a while. "Really weird."

_________________________________________________________________

Megan had wrapped her arms around Artemis, and she now held her closely, snuggling next to her as the shower water cascaded down the both of them. Megan rested her cheek up against Artemis' shoulder and hummed softly, while her thumb softly stroked over Artemis' slick skin.

Artemis closed her eyes and leaned back into her, grateful for her warmth, and loving the intimacy that had been kindled between the two of them. Occasionally her eyes would flutter open to make sure that Megan was still there, even though she felt her arms around her, holding her gently up against her own body.

Megan looked so peaceful, with her eyes half-closed and a faint smile on her lips. Her hair clung to her skin, and Artemis almost thought that she could make out a blush in her cheeks.

Artemis placed her hand over Megan's then, letting her fingertips do the talking. Letting them tell her how at ease she was, and how she enjoyed her company. But there was something else in the language of her touch, something that Megan was slowly starting to understand. The way her lingering touch would almost tease her, stroking along her hands and then onto her palms. Artemis was saying something that only made her blush more.

Opening her eyes fully, Megan looked at her friend.

"Yes?" she asked shyly.

"Nothing," Artemis replied, though the look in her eyes said differently. "I'm just…glad we're…together," she said. "I mean, with everything crazy going on right now…you and me just…it helps." Artemis was stuttering as she tried to put her thoughts into words. She couldn't tell Megan exactly what she thought and felt, for she didn't know how.

Hell, she didn't even know what she thought and felt. She only had a vague idea of it, a shape or a color of her emotions that had formed in her brain that she was now trying to make into something logical.

"Yeah, I can understand that," Megan replied softly.

"And it's more than just our team," Artemis continued on. "Last time I went home, my mother scolded me for hours on end. And then I find out that Roy and my sister have been shacking up together…" She let her words fade.

"That does sound like a lot," Megan offered, though she really couldn't understand. Such things had never really happened to her. If one of her sisters, far away back on Mars that she could barely remember, did something she was usually the last to know. And even then, it didn't bother her.

But Artemis was something more.

She felt for her, a pang to her heart as she listened to Artemis mumble something under her breath. Megan could feel her body starting to tense again as she thought and mumbled. Megan ran a soothing hand across her body, trying to return Artemis to the former ease she had felt. Artemis blushed when Megan touched her breast, but neither of them noticed.

Eventually, the tension went away.

"I hate this heat," Artemis whispered to her.

"I hate it even more," Megan replied. "It's never been this hot. Well, for me, anyway. The hottest it got on Mars was like…"

"Like Gotham in the early spring," Artemis finished for her, though she didn't know why she'd said it. It just seemed to fit, so she went along with it.

Megan giggled a little. "Yeah, like that."

Another moment of silence stretched between them, but it was a comfortable silence, just like before. Sweet and serene and intimate. Megan pressed a small kiss to Artemis' shoulder, and then placed her chin on her shoulder. Her eyes drifted closed and open. Though, Artemis still seemed to be thinking something. Megan wished that she could just relax again.

"Is it Kaldur?" Megan asked her suddenly.

"What?" Artemis asked, taken by surprise. She spun all the way around to fully look at Megan. "Kaldur? What about him?"

"Well…are you thinking about him?"

Artemis wanted to lie, but then she swallowed it. "Yeah, a little. I mean, everyone here is kinda out of it. And Kaldur seems like he's turning into some kind of zombie or something. You know, the way he just…" Artemis sighed when she couldn't speak anymore.

Megan reached out her hand.

"I know," she said. "I know how much you care for him." Artemis' emotional barriers seemed to come down, and Megan was happy for that. It meant that Artemis was starting to trust her more, put more confidence in her.

"Yeah, I do," she admitted. "But I care for all my teammates."

"Artemis," Megan said.

"Yeah, yeah," Artemis said with a wave of her hand. "I like him, okay? I like him…a lot…and, I think, we might be a thing now."

Megan beamed at the news. Artemis only stared down at the floor, with the ghost of a pout shadowing what would have been a neutral expression. Megan moved in close to her again, hugging her body up against Artemis' and wrapping her tightly in her arms.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about…"

"I'm not embarrassed," Artemis replied. "I just…I'm not used to telling people things."

Megan nodded, but still she didn't fully understand. Artemis always kept things hidden away, under covers, and guarded. Her past was always her past and hers alone, as with her family, and her secrets. It took the worst to come to the worst before she finally let those barriers down and revealed some part of herself that she had hoped she would never have to acknowledge. Leave it open for the team to judge.

"Artemis," Megan said, placing her hand on her cheek and turning Artemis' face towards hers, so that she could look her in the eyes. "I may not understand everything, but I can hope to. I know you don't like opening up all that much, but I just want to let you know that you can with me. I won't judge or evaluate or any of that. You'll always have me."

A genuine smile graced Artemis' face.

"Thanks," she whispered.

Then, "There is something I want to talk about."

"I'm all ears," Megan replied cheerfully, giving Artemis a smile.

"It's about my body, though," Artemis warned. She saw the smile falter on Megan's face, but she didn't let it die. "And my mind…and my blood. I think that something is about to happen…something inside of me that I think might be there, but really isn't." Artemis closed her eyes, knowing how stupid she sounded.

"Tell me," Megan urged.

Artemis turned her eyes towards her, and Megan leaned back. They were dark and dangerous, flashing in the faint light, as devious thoughts played out in her mind, all conflicting and fighting for something inside of her.

"Artemis…?"

"I want to make love to you, Megan, but I want to hurt you. Badly. And I don't know why."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Okay I'm gonna be honest here; I'm starting to dislike this story. When I started it, I had a clear idea of where I wanted it to go and now it just seems like a mess, and I'm still stuck in trying to get all three of them together in a way that doesn't feel forced.
> 
> Yeah, I'm really starting to dislike this story, but I'll continue it on just to finish it, and I'll try to make it good; I just thought that I should let you all know.
> 
> For the record, I'm probably gonna have another Symbiosi story out sometime, but one that's a bit better to read/write.


	11. Chapter 11

"There is a poison in us," Kaldur admitted at last, hanging his head down into his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut as he fought for control of his mind, but everything kept slipping through his webbed fingers. "I've known, but I did nothing about it." Just the fact that he'd not acted was killing him; eating at his heart and teething on his ribs. "How could I have…?"

"Because you have a poison in you," Aquaman said to him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You could not have fought it, no matter how strong you may be, Kaldur'ahm."

Kaldur looked up at him with remorseful eyes. They weren't their normal pale selves, but instead tinted darker by the bloodshot look in his eyes.

"Your words are kind, my king, but I feel that I do not deserve them."

"Nonsense, Kaldur'ahm," Aquaman responded, tightening his grip on his shoulder. "You've done well, for all the time I have known you. This is not your fault, no matter what your mind may tell you. Like Batman has said, and you yourself, there is a poison in you. We must find it and drain it from your body. And the bodies of your teammates."

Aquaman released his grip on Kaldur's shoulder, and walked back to the screens that were still checking his vitals.

It made no sense to Kaldur, how something could be affecting them all like this. He didn't want to think that it was beyond his or any of his team's knowledge, but it was beginning to dawn on his that that was exactly the case.

Aquaman read quickly, the words and formulas that had been scanned into the systems as it tried to read over Kaldur's and Wally's and Zatanna's DNA.

So far, Zatanna hadn't exhibited any changing symptoms in her body, but she had been exposed to whatever poison the rest had caught, so she was going through treatment as well.

But it just showed nothing.

Granted, there were abnormalities in their blood tests, but all of them should have been solved by the vaccines that they had concocted. The fact that the vaccines hadn't worked left a sour taste in Aquaman's mouth. He tapped his finger up against the holographic screen, scrolling through the rest of the medical reports, searching for something that might have been missed time and time again.

What he did notice to be wrong with them, it all should have been corrected by the vaccine.

Perhaps, Aquaman thought, another dosage would do the trick?

But then again, he thought not.

Perhaps an updated version, to attack the upgraded strain of infection? Viruses and diseases evolve especially fast, so maybe it just outgrew the vaccine before we had even finished it?

Aquaman let this theory run around in his head for a moment before he got to work on the computers. He located the files they had of the poison, or virus, or whatever it was. The information they had was so little, next to none in fact, so Aquaman didn't have much to go off of. Not even the entire chemical composition had been gathered. More evidence that the virus had evolved past the vaccine. If it was a virus.

Aquaman looked up the past blood samples collected from the team, and compared it with the ones taken just a few minutes ago. Aquaman concluded that there was indeed growth, a change in the…thing…that had soaked into their blood and muscles and brains.

"It is unfortunate," Aquaman said aloud.

"What is, my king?" Kaldur asked him, sitting upright and looking over at him with complete attentiveness.

"This poison within you all is unpredictable, and it seems to be able to change its biologics quickly. If it wasn't so unstable, we could have predicted what the virus would be like within an hour's time, but alas, we cannot." Aquaman sighed and turned away from the hologram in front of him.

"Do you think we'll ever get better?" Zatanna asked him, turning both of their attentions towards her.

"Of course!" Aquaman boomed. "We will solve this, and purge this poison from the world, and have you all back to normality in a week's time. That I assure you!"

Zatanna looked down at her feet, not wanting her disbelief to show on her face. She couldn't help but feel it would be a broken promise, no matter what they did.

Aquaman searched the databases some more, looking and searching but all the while finding nothing. Everything that should be accounted for they knew, and he just couldn't locate what was wrong with them that could make them still act like this. Wally shouldn't be angry and Kaldur shouldn't be nearly-zombified and Connor shouldn't be comatose. And the rest of the team, whatever symptoms they had been having... They shouldn't be having them either. Aquaman thought that if the others had some identifiable symptoms, then he could put together a better picture of what they were dealing with.

Swift, nimble fingers typed out various key words into the search box, but all came up empty. There was nothing that he could think to do; not now.

"My king…?" Kaldur asked, wondering if he had found anything.

"I am truly sorry, Kaldur'ahm," he replied, setting a hand on his shoulder, "but there was nothing more I can find."

Zatanna thought as much. She watched as Aquaman went towards the door. Before he left, he told them that someone else would be in shortly, someone with more medical experience, and left them with that. They all groaned and laid back on the cots. Wally's scowl was etched deep into his face.

Loud beeping filled the air.

The computer systems lit up with an incoming message. Kaldur pressed the green accept button, and Dick's face lit up on the screen.

"Dick?" Wally asked, jumping up from the cot. "What are you doing out? Aren't you supposed to be in here with us?" Luckily, he didn't seem as agitated as he had been before.

Dick still remembered him yelling at him, though.

"Yeah, well, I got my dad to take me back here and I just jumped down to the Batcave…look I had some stuff I needed to find out, and I knew that I would find what I was looking for in the Batcave."

"Why's that?" Zatanna asked him.

"Well, that Batcave databases are a bit more extensive than the Cave's," Dick replied.

"Really?" she asked.

"Look, long story short, I found something that might be interesting." Dick pulled his sunglasses off, and looked straight into the webcam that was focused on him. "You know that compound that I was telling you about earlier? Toxicodendron rosa anigoma? Well, as it turns out, I found an old file from several years ago when Batman and Superman were working together to infiltrate some of Belle Reve's technological issues that were being exploited by super geniuses, and—"

"Hey, Dick, you gonna get to the point soon?" Wally snapped at him.

"I'm getting there!" Dick snapped back.

"Well, you're sure taking your time getting there!"

"Enough! Both of you!" Kaldur said, cutting them both off before Dick could say another word. "Dick, what have you found?" Kaldur asked calmly.

"Okay, so, this substance has a long history of not being able to be killed or gotten rid of with vaccines, which is why its so dangerous. When it was created--by Poison Ivy, so I was right there--it was made with the specific purpose not to be able to get out of your system. But all that's artificial. What I did discover was that there was a natural cure for this…this…poison. It's a deep sea weed called Red Rags…in slang, anyway. The Latin name—"

"Where can we find it?" asked a voice behind them all.

They all turned to see Megan standing right in the doorway, Artemis behind her, peering over her shoulder.

"Well, uh—" Dick stuttered, "I'm still trying to get an exact location, but from what I can gather, somewhere really deep in the ocean."

"Well, that's perfect!" said Wally. "Kaldur can go and get it, can't you?" he asked, turning to him.

Before Kaldur had a chance to say anything, Megan jumped in: "I can go with him! If he decides to go, that is."

Kaldur waited for almost an entire minute before he was finally able to respond. "Yes, I'll go."

"Great!" Megan exclaimed. For a second or so she tried to restraint herself, but then she finally let herself run towards him and throw her arms around him in a hug.

He almost smiled.

"K, guys, just let me give you a few more pointers before old Bats calls me up for something…"

_________________________________________________________________

"Is this the location?" Megan asked Kaldur, as they neared the precise coordinates over the ocean.

Kaldur shrugged. "I cannot say for sure, I am loathe to admit. Things escape me."

Megan nodded, and pulled up the GPS with a wave of her hand. The Bioship blinked bright green on the grid map, and the numbers at the edges told her that they weren't there just yet. She needed to be a bit farther south, and a lot farther east. She steered the ship to its course, and they continued on completely silent.

Artemis tapped her fingers up against her knee.

She was the only one there besides Megan and Kaldur. They needed someone to steer the ship back to land once they were deployed, since they couldn't just leave it out in the open unprotected for so long. Plus, she was the second best at piloting the Bioship.

In front of the windows, nothing but the endless blue of the ocean and sky met them. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and Megan didn't know if that was normal for Earth weather or not. She still had much to learn.

"Hey, Artemis," Megan feebly asked, "do you know what the weather's supposed to be like today?"

Artemis scoffed. "You're so bored you're trying to make small talk about the weather?" she asked her, a smirk on her face. When she saw Megan's downcast face, it fell. "Sorry," Artemis said. "I…I didn't mean that…"

Sneaking another peek at the martian from the corner of her eye, she was relieved to see that there wasn't any harm done. She looked as placid as ever.

"But, really?" Megan tried again. "The weather?"

"I dunno. The news guy said to expect cloudy skies sometime around four o'clock or so…rain around four thirty… But y'know, those guys aren't known for their accuracy."

Megan nodded.

She wanted to ask why the sky was so clear if there were to be storms later on, but decided against it. This wasn't the weirdest Earth weather she had experienced. The knowledge of an abnormally hot summer took center stage in her mind, reminding her that things weren't normal and that she shouldn't expect them to be so.

"We're almost there," Megan told them.

Artemis and Kaldur nodded at her words, but said nothing.

A few more miles to go, and then she and Kaldur would jump into the ocean and go in search of this Red Rags weed, or whatever Robin had called it. He'd given them the scientific name for it time and time again, but it just couldn't stick to any of their tongues. So Red Rags it was.

The Bioship flew closer down, until it skimmed the edge of the water.

"Almost ready?" she asked them brightly.

Muttered words of agreement was all she got in return.

"Fine, be sulky," she muttered.

Minutes of silence passed between all three of them as they did nothing more than sit and wait, their eyes fixed on the endless ocean horizon. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, but Megan still felt that tension in her, one that crept up her spine and made her hair fluff. Artemis tapped her nails on the arm rests of her seats, able to feel that same unease that filled the air. Kaldur only stared on and on, unblinking. His vision was blurring, the blue of the ocean mixing with the blue of the sky, and the monotonous sight was starting to lull him.

"We're here," Megan announced.

The map that appeared on the screen confirmed what she'd just said. A green dot blinked at them, lining up perfectly with the coordinates at the X and Y axises.

Megan and Kaldur stood and a small hole formed in the Bioship's floor for them to jump through.

"Good luck, you guys," Artemis said to them.

They both nodded at her, and then jumped down out of the ship and into the water. Kaldur went first, and when he dived into the ocean water his senses immediately felt sharper. The cold water made him more awake, his vision focused and he was able to see even minute details from far away, and his hearing increased tenfold. Distant whale songs found their way to his ears, along with the rush of the ocean currents, and sounds far below him that still remained a mystery.

The ocean was so deep, and Atlantis was so shallow in comparison.

Megan appeared next to him. Morphing herself, she compressed her body for the ocean depth, grew a mermaid-like tail, and developed gills along the side of her neck that mirrored Kaldur's. All this happened quickly.

She signaled to Kaldur that she was ready.

Through their mental link, Megan could feel the Bioship and Artemis retreating, returning to the land where the rest of the team still dwelled.

They swam together silently. Occasionally, Kaldur would say something, guiding her towards to ocean bottom to where the weeds grew. He knew the ocean far better than her, so she trusted his instinct. Megan spoke with her mind, mostly. A song was playing in her head (the intro to Hello, Megan!) and Kaldur could hear a few strands of the music in his head every now and then.

The ocean darkened. Kaldur couldn't see well in the dark, but he didn't have to. Other senses came to life, including a strong echolocation. Megan, however, made it so that her eyes glowed bright green. The light was nice, Kaldur thought.

Approaching the ocean floor, Megan spotted what was supposed to be the Red Rags. Her heart leapt, and that joy was transferred over to Kaldur. They swam faster, wanting to reach the weeds as soon as possible. Kaldur could see that they were indeed the weeds that they had been searching for; they matched the description perfectly, and the scientific sketches (the only images available).

They felt like sea weed always did, slimy and a bit tacky. Megan closed a fist around as much as she could, and pulled them free, making sure that the roots were still intact. She formed a bag out of her cloak, and started stuffing the Red Rags inside.

Kaldur helped her, pulling free as much of the weed as he could.

These weeds look like shadows, he thought.

The red clashed with Megan's green light, and they appeared a dark, inky black against the dark ocean water. When Kaldur stuck his hand out to collect more, he felt vaguely like he was in a dream, swimming in shadows and being pulled away by the currents. Deeper than he'd gone before, and feeling out of place, drifting…

He watched as his hand ran through the dark sea weed, looking more and more like shadows. His movements slowed, and he focused on the dance of the weeds, the way they flowed along with the movement of the ocean, shifted with the waves.

Kaldur… a voice rang in his head.

Kaldur…

Still, it didn't pull him out of his trance. He was focused on the weeds, and the dull sounds that came to his ears. A strange feeling weighed on his chest, and it felt like it was pulling him down. Down to the dark, inky depths were morbid stories came to life and he would be forced to play out horrors in slow motion.

Remember, Kaldur, just as the land dwellers cannot conquer the land, we cannot conquer the sea… His king's words floated across his mind.

Kaldur!

He winced. Now aware, everything sharpened again. Megan had screamed at him…in his mind or out loud, he didn't know. But it brought him back to the present. He looked at her, and he could see there was worry on her face. Her eyes were filled with concern, and he looked away because he mistook it as pity.

"I am sorry, M'gann," he told her. He went back to pulling the weeds, and stuffed them in her cloak for her to carry. "I was…lost in thought."

I believe the term is…spacing out again… Megan replied.

Something like that, Kaldur mentally replied.

They went back to collecting the weeds in silence. Until…

"There's something in the water!" Kaldur said, spinning around. His muscles were tense, his eyes wide.

What?! Megan asked, fear going through her. What is it?!

"I don't know," Kaldur replied. "But it is…unusual. And big."

Megan closed her cloak tightly, securing the Red Rags in their place. She took her place at Kaldur's side, ready to fight off whatever Kaldur had sensed. Her mind expanded, far out in every direction, psychically searching for the threat. Something was there, just as Kaldur had said.

The leviathan's just a myth, right? Megan asked him then.

"No," Kaldur said, "but the leviathan is the least of our worries."

Okay, not the leviathan, great, she thought to herself. Then…what?

She focused in on the thing, moving through the water at a quick pace. It didn't have a single consciousness, but many collected together, all melded into what was attempting to be uniform. But it divided, drew her in every which way.

"Hello, Megan!" she said aloud, startling Kaldur. "It's a submarine!"

"There aren't supposed to be any submarines in this part of the sea," Kaldur replied. "I looked before we came out here…the closest one is supposed to be four hundred miles from here." He paused.

So what's this one doing here?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The bay doors opened, and the Bioship flew smoothly inside.

Artemis stepped out a moment later, feeling drained for no reason at all. Maybe it took more mental power to fly the Bioship than she realized. Or maybe it was because she hadn't gotten much sleep (despite her best efforts). Or maybe both of them combined. Maybe none of them. She didn't want to think about it for too long.

Wally stood by the wall, waiting to greet her.

"Hey. So how'd it go?" he asked her, trying to act nonchalant.

"Fine," she said.

"Just fine?" Wally asked. He crossed his arms and leaned back. Artemis walked towards the doors that lead into the rest of the cave, and Wally leaned in close when she got near.

"Yes, just fine," Artemis said.

They slid open, and Wally followed her inside. He walked up to her side, looking at her as she strode forward, but Artemis kept her gaze straight ahead. Still, she couldn't help but feel irritated by the way he was watching her.

"What?" she asked him, still not bothering to look.

"You look tired," he remarked. "What are your symptoms?"

"Really? That's what you wanna talk about?" she asked.

Wally shrugged it off like it was nothing. "Doctor wants to know. She's been studying us for most of the morning. Wants to study you too."

"Great," Artemis sighed.

She pulled the cowl from her face as she walked, her face exposed. She didn't really care all that much. The Cave was safe, secure, and her fears had long ago vanished. Still, doubt started to form in her mind.

If none of the Justice League members come around the cave out of uniform, why should you? Doubt asked her. Come to think of it, the only person you actually know is Green Arrow. None of the others care enough to tell you who they are.

Artemis shook her head, trying to make her thoughts disappear.

Easier said than done. Her doubt kept nagging her, asking her stupid questions and making her jump to even stupider conclusions. Reason told Artemis that there was no sense to thinking those things, to be questioning everyone like she was, but still…

They still don't trust you, y'know…

Artemis groaned and put a hand to her head. She stopped walking, and when she did, Wally stopped too.

"Everything okay?" he asked her. When Artemis didn't respond, he tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she reacted before he could.

Artemis jumped away from his hand, her body tense, almost snarling at him as she looked at him. Wally's eyes widened, not quite believing that he was seeing this. "Don't touch me," she snarled, and stormed away from him.

Wally stood dumbfounded before muttering, "Freak."

"What did you call me?!" Artemis asked, turning to him.

Wally remained silent, but put his hands up in defense. Whoa, I didn't mean anything by it, he wanted to say. The look on her face frightened him, though he wouldn't admit it.

"What did you say to me?!" Artemis asked, her voice rising. Her hands started to move backwards to her bow and arrows, but she flinched and moved them away, trying to play it off as just random movements. Wally wasn't buying it.

"Were you actually gonna…?"

"NO!" Artemis screamed. She started backing away from him, and he only stood there bewildered and accusing. "No," she said again.

Artemis could feel eyes on them, watching them, drawn by her outcry. Her and her outburst and Wally standing there like a victim. Her heart started racing in her chest, and her blood felt suddenly icy. Her breath started to come faster and faster, tears were forming in her eyes, and all her doubts came crashing into her at once.

Not knowing what else to do, she bolted.

She ran towards the zeta tubes, quickly punched in the code quickly, and vanished before panic could overcome her.

Once she was away from the team, she allowed herself to feel it all. Artemis put her hands to her chest, like trying to keep her heart from bursting out of her chest. She sank down to the ground, clutching her knees to her, trying to even out her breaths and fight off the panic that was surging through her.

No… she thought.


End file.
